Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Ukrainian theater provides joy for children facing Russia's bombardment

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Ukrainian theater provides joy for children facing Russia's bombardment · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In just over a week, Ukraine will mark four years
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: since Russia's full scale invasion started. And now, in the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: depths of a frigid winter, under constant bombardment and amid
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: near constant power blackouts, it may seem there is little
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: space for art or joy, especially for children.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: But in the eastern city of Harkiv, there's a small
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  Speaker 2: corner a half a century old, where children can learn
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  Speaker 2: the grace, the discipline, and yes, even the joy of theater.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Special correspondent Jack Heuston takes us there for our Arts
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  Speaker 2: and Culture series canvas.
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  Speaker 3: For fifty years, Theater Timor has been a place where
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  Speaker 3: children come to play and perform together. Rehearsals look much
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: like they always have been Harky in Ukraine's East, everything
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: around them has changed since Russia's invasion. Practice now takes
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: place under the constant threat of bombardment, predominantly from Iranian
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: made Shaha drones. For seventeen year old Maria, the theater
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: has become more than just a stage naad.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: At the beginning of the war, all my friends left
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  Speaker 4: and I had nothing to do.
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  Speaker 5: I was scared to stay at home alone, and I
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  Speaker 5: found out that there was a children's theater in Harkiev.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't know about it at all.
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  Speaker 1: I came and saw that.
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  Speaker 3: There were a lot of children here.
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  Speaker 5: They were all having fun, playing.
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  Speaker 4: And I knew that if anything happened, they would save
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  Speaker 4: me because there was a shelter here.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Teenagers rehearse alongside adults, learning discipline, trust, and how to
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  Speaker 3: hold their nerve in a city under attack. When Russia invaded,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: the arts were sidelined as the nation scrambled to defend
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: its borders. For director Anton Sliakov, it's about resilience, thriving,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: not just surviving.
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: What does we mean with shoe?
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  Speaker 4: We understand the first and foremost now is the front,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: the army and everything related to it. But I believe
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  Speaker 4: that in second place should be art, theaters and so on,
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  Speaker 4: because that should also be what we were fighting for,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: not only the fight for our freedom, but then what
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  Speaker 4: we do with this freedom, about our identity, about our culture.
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  Speaker 3: The performances showing here from the theaters archived footage land
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  Speaker 3: with greater weight for audiences strained by an emotional toll
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  Speaker 3: of war. They bring moments of lightness, reflection, and simple escapism.
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  Speaker 4: Many people tell us that at your performances we cried
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  Speaker 4: out our pain, and it becomes easier for us to
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  Speaker 4: live in them stay a Someone says that at your performances,
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  Speaker 4: we forget that there is a war going on around us,
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  Speaker 4: and for this hour or two, it is also very
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  Speaker 4: important for us to get our minds off things.
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  Speaker 3: Suddenly we hear the sound of a drone overhead.
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  Speaker 4: I need to get the children down urgently. You also
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  Speaker 4: go down down to the shelter. Now, let's go everyone
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  Speaker 4: on to the shelter. Now this second, let's go to
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  Speaker 4: the second. Let's go now to the vault.
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  Speaker 3: Anton doesn't hesitate. Everyone must be brought down underground as
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  Speaker 3: soon as possible.
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  Speaker 5: All these kids have just had to come downstairs into
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  Speaker 5: this basement because of Shahad was heard overhead in the
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: middle of an interview that we're just doing this is
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: pretty much a routine occurrences straight on their phones, that
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  Speaker 5: this is normality for them now. But it's just insane
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  Speaker 5: that this is what they have to deal with, multiple
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: times a week, multiple times a day. Even this is
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  Speaker 5: normal life for children in a hearty but as normal
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  Speaker 5: as this.
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  Speaker 3: Has become harrowing. Individual stories are quickly revealed. Satislav is
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  Speaker 3: just fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: A rocket flew over our house recently, and then a
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: rocket hit the house next door.
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  Speaker 5: You're very young to be experiencing things like this. It's crazy.
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  Speaker 3: How does it affect you so.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Well?
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  Speaker 1: It's so crazy? Where it's.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: H Childhood here has lived under constant threat and yet
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: continues against all odds. Theater tim has arguably never been
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: more important for the children it serves. Antom believes the
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: theater is playing its most vital role. Yet now visiting
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: the theater, they mentally survive.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: The time will pass, and paradoxically, I'm sure that these
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: memories will be some of their happiest. How during the
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: war they played Christmas plays for the whole city in
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  Speaker 4: this bunker. We're very alive here. This is our message
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  Speaker 4: to the world's.
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  Speaker 3: Let's then, let's see. As the air raids continue, this
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  Speaker 3: basement has become one of the few places we're happy.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Childhood memories can still be made for the PBS News
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Hour on Jack Houston in Hakiv, Ukraine.
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• 5:24
  Speaker 1: even better, start a monthly contribution today.