In Ukraine, the show must go on - even underground

The Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet is about to burst back into sound - underground. The bunker theatre is being prepared beneath the main auditorium, down several flights of stairs. It has no dress circle, chandeliers or Champagne - but a lot of grey concrete. The theatre’s general director, Ihor Touluzov, explains.

The main stage has been closed off since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2003. It is not safe for the artists to perform on the stage, so they have been using a makeshift stage in the basement of a nearby building. The main stage was destroyed when a missile was fired at the base of the building. The risk to life remains even now, long after Russian troops were forced back from the city limits.

The roof caught fire several times, but staff managed to extinguish the flames before they took hold. Just over a month ago, a barrage of Russian missiles hit residential areas of the city, killing 11 people. Volodymyr Kozlov is the baritone of Ukrainian opera, Natalka Poltavka. He and his wife, Yulia Forsyuk, performed for Ukrainian troops on the frontline.

The couple moved to Slovakia briefly at the start of the war, but couldn’t settle there. She had not known in advance where exactly they were going. She had not been able to tell him in advance what she was going to do. She didn’t want him to be disappointed if he didn’t get to go with her.

She wanted him to have a chance to say goodbye. More than half of the company are still in Slovakia. One man was killed fighting on the frontline and several more have been mobilised. For those who have stayed in Kharkiv, everything is being adjusted to their reduced new reality.

Natalia Babarok: “Our director adapts the score to feel like everyone’s still there” Even the greatest Russian composers - Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov - have all been eliminated from the theatre repertoire. They are waiting for final clearance from the Kharkiv military administration to begin staging larger-scale productions. There has been an increase in Russian missile attacks lately. The director hopes reopening the theatre, even a subterranean stage, will help entice people home.

He wants to show that life - like the show - goes on. Every action, every event connected with the Russians is perceived with pain,"" the director explains.

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