Sickle is a brutal play that's tough to watch. This is not a play to go to for a fun night out and to forget your troubles. It's a play that shines a light on a little known part of history known as the
Holodomor, a genocide by starvation perpetrated by the Soviet Union on the people of Ukraine in the 1930s, with striking parallels to what's happening today. This Minnesota premiere play, written by Chicago-based playwright Abby Fenbert, is beautifully and devastatingly brought to life by Theatre Novi Most and an incredible cast of five women, baring their souls on stage as they pay homage to the strength and resiliency of the Ukranian people, particularly the women. I can't help but be reminded of the story of the Ukranian woman who, in the early days of the current war, gave sunflower seeds to a Russian soldier so that when he died on Ukranian soil, something beautiful would grow. That woman is a descendent of the women represented in this play - fierce, loyal, loving women who will stop at nothing to protect their family, their home, their land. The limited run of
Sickle concludes on May 10,
click here for tickets and info on special events like live music and a Ukranian food truck. Novi Most is partnering with Stand with Ukraine MN for this production;
click here to find out more about them and learn how you can support Ukraine in their current crisis.
The story is set in a small farming village in rural Ukraine, where all of the men have been taken. Specifically, deported for made-up charges (sound familiar?). This leaves the women to harvest the grain, most of which is being sent to the Soviet government, leaving little for the women and their children to eat. Anna, an unmarried elder, is in charge of the group, with Iryna, a new mother, acting as general with a pail on her head. Due to the famine her milk has dried up and she can no longer feed her baby, making her more and more desperate. Halka and Yasia patrol the perimeter and harvest the fields, the former strong and determined, the latter relying on drink to get her through. Into this little community comes Nadya, a representative of the government who is ostensibly there to help their farm be more efficient, but the women are having none of it. They threaten her, then force her to become part of their community, helping them with the work and managing their interactions with the government. The situation is tenuous at best, the famine increasing along with the quotas. They take desperate measures to save the community, to devastating effect.
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Serena Brook, Adelin Phelps, Julia Valen, and
Tracey Maloney (photo by Dan Norman) |
Theatre Novi Most co-founders Lisa Channer and Vladimir Rovinsky co-direct the piece, which plays out at an unhurried pace, allowing the emotions to expand and build. They wisely did not add an intermission to this two-hour play; why should we in the audience get a break from the drama and trauma when these women did not? Better to let the tension build unbroken.
Theatre Novi Most has tapped five of our best female actors for this play, and each one of them gives an incredible performance individually, and they also create a real feeling of community and camaraderie among them. Tracey Maloney is the strong center as the mother figure Anna. Adelin Phelps is tough and funny as Iryna, but will rip your heart out when she reveals Iryna's pain. Serena Brook embodies the industrious and capable Halka, with Julia Valen as the always slightly drunk, always slightly out of control Yasia. Becca Claire Hart transforms before our eyes from the naive and idealistic Young Communist to member of the village to something much more sinister.
Between scenes we are treated to traditional music of the region sung a capella by Olga Frayman and Johanna Gorman Baer, lending an air of authenticity to the story. The subtle sound design includes nature sounds, as well as nondescript sounds creating a sense of foreboding (sound design by Dan Dukich).
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| the stage and supertitles (photo courtesy of Novi Most) |
This piece uses Mixed Blood Theatre's black box space well, with a long thrust stage built on the right side as you enter the Alan Page Auditorium, most of the seating opposite the stage with some on either side, where Ukranian translations of the dialogue are projected. The stage has been transformed into a farming community with rustic wooden fences and gates; pitchforks, sickles, and other farming implements; barrels and crates; and piles of what looks like real dirt that the women occasionally dig into. Projections are used sparingly on the fence on the back wall to show an idyllic countryside, and lighting hints at the tone or time of day. The characters are dressed in traditional Ukranian costumes, with double full skirts, shirts with embroidered designs, and heavy work boots. These beautiful women are made to look sallow and haggard with smudged faces and dark hollows under their eyes, which again adds to the authenticity. (Scenic design by Sarah Bahr, costume design by Andrea M Gross, lighting design by Robert Perry, projection design by Davey T. Steinman.)
Theater has always been about sharing untold stories, giving voice to the voiceless, remembering our history, and holding a mirror up to the present. We need that now more than ever, with war and violence in every corner of the globe, gross injustices at home and abroad, and cuts and limitations to funding for the arts. Sickle is an important story to tell, and it's being told with brutal honesty and beautiful artistry by Theatre Novi Most. Please see it if you can to support these wonderful artists and our local Ukranian community.
