Search

Toggle dark mode:

Saved articles

You have not yet added any article to your bookmarks!

Browse articles

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

Ukraine Unbroken

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 2 Published: 4 Mar 2026 Arcola Theatre Show Dates: 27 Feb 2026-28 Mar 2026

Mariia Petrovska sits aloft at the Arcola Theatre dressed in traditional costume, armed only with her country’s national instrument, so despised by the Russians as an expression of Ukrainian unity and identity that they executed people for playing it. The bandura has been at the heart of Ukraine's history and folkloric traditions for centuries, its 36 delicate strings creating magical sounds and accompaniments for songs that tell of triumphs and tragedies, love and loss. Having fled to Britain with her parents after the Russian invasion, she has an intimate connection to the production.

A worthy and ambitious project

Along with Petrovska’s situational narrative and enchanting vocals, it provides interludes between the five short plays that form Ukraine Unbroken. Her sequences also cover the significant scene changes required to move from one play to another. Credit here to Naomi Shanson (Stage Manager On Book), Ryan Denton (Assistant Stage Manager) and their team of hands for so expertly bringing about the transformations.

The quintet is a worthy and ambitious project directed by Nicolas Kent with Victoria Gartner (Associate Director) and Maryna Kursik (Assistant Director – Ukrainian), performed by an adept six-actor ensemble of Daniel Betts, Ian Bonar, Sally Giles, David Michaels, Clara Read and Jade Williams.

Act One, Demonstrations & Invasions, opens with Always by Jonathan Myerson in which we view the 2014 Maidan Square protests from a hotel room where two gunmen intend to shoot participants. This strategy comes as a surprise to the MP and his wife whom they are holding hostage, causing her to fear for her son who is out there with the crowds. Despite its inherent tensions, the outcome is rather bland.

Next, David Edgar’s Five Day War examines Russia’s 2022 “Special Military Operation”. Imbued with some dark comedy, three potential post-victory leaders compete for positions while a bureaucrat pulls their strings. It’s an interesting, if rather game-ridden, take on the delusional world of false narratives.

War is the simple descriptor of Act Two. Three Mates by Natalka Vorozhbyt is an intensely dramatic monologue in which Ian Bonar becomes Andriy, wrestling with his conscience as a man who, by various deceits, has managed to avoid conscription. Finally, we have a piece of theatre with which to identify and experience emotional turmoil.

This leads into David Greig’s Wretched Things, which takes us to the front line where issues of morality and rules of engagement pose problems for three soldiers. The arguments and dilemmas are interesting; it might come over more convincingly in a film than it does on stage.

That’s not the case with Taken by Cat Goscovitch, which confronts the harrowing reality of the 20,000 Ukrainian children stolen by Russia, handed over to other parents hundreds of miles away and subjected to a world of propaganda. Jade Williams, as the mother, movingly expresses the distress of families torn apart, and Clara Read as her 12-year-old daughter chillingly reveals the impact of re-education.

Hence, it’s a mixed bag performed over nearly three hours. For those with a passionate interest in the subject matter, the didacticism and expositional content might be of interest, but overall, as a piece of theatre it falls short of the mark.

Amir Nisi

Richard Beck

A graduate in theology and education, Richard acted and contributed to dance, drama and music productions throughout his teaching career. He joined Broadway Baby in 2014 and is now our Editor-in-Chief. He usually disappears to warmer climes for the winter to pursue his passion for travel.

Related to this article:

Location:

Performances

The Blurb:

Five plays: A nation’s fight for freedom.

From the producer-director of the Olivier Award-nominated The Great Game – Afghanistan comes a powerful cycle of short plays about courage, truth and survival in the face of tyranny.

Ukraine Unbroken charts twelve turbulent years of modern Ukrainian history, from the Maidan protests of 2014 to Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and beyond. Across five gripping plays by some of today’s most acclaimed British and Ukrainian writers, including David Edgar, David Greig and Natalka Vorozhbit, we explore the resilience of a nation determined to remain free.

Performed with live Ukrainian music from Mariia Petrovska on the bandura and woven through with headlines and voices from the front line, Ukraine Unbroken is a portrait of resistance and resilience. 

Join us for an evening of theatre, testimony and tribute to the unbreakable spirit of Ukraine.

The Plays

Act 1: Demonstrations & Invasions

Always – Jonathan Myerson

In Always by Jonathan Myerson (BBC’s Nuremberg: The Trial of the Nazi War Criminals), a married couple is held hostage inside Hotel Ukraina in 2014 as their son protests in Maidan Square below.

Five Day War – David Edgar

David Edgar (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby; Destiny) takes a darkly comic and sinister look at the ambition and delusion of Russia’s 2022 “Special Military Operation” – an invasion that was not an invasion and a war that was not a war.

Act 2: War

Three Mates – Natalka Vorozhbit

Natalka Vorozhbit (Bad Roads) explores the shame of survival in Three Mates, translated by Sasha Dugdale – a darkly humorous confession from a Ukrainian man in hiding from conscription, reflecting on the different paths through the war he and his friends have taken.

Wretched Things – David Greig

David Greig’s (Dunsinane; The Events) Wretched Things tells a story of Ukrainian front-line troops who have captured a wounded North Korean soldier and must decide whether to risk their own lives to save his.

Taken – Cat Goscovitch

Cat Goscovitch (A Russian Doll) confronts the harrowing reality of the 20,000 Ukrainian children stolen by Russia in Taken, which follows one mother’s search for her daughter through a world of propaganda and re-education, where both childhood and country are erased.****

Wicked
Phantom of the Opera
The Producers
Popular now
Titanique
Les Miserables
Matilda