Director David Petrosian preparing play on civilians adapting to returning soldiers

Petrosian told Ukrinform that the premiere of Poliandria will take place at the end of October on the experimental Scene under the Chimeras of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater. The play, written by contemporary playwright Serhii Kulybyshev, tells the story of a woman waiting for her husband, who has spent a year in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation.

“It’s a slightly fantastical story about how he returns and how they have to adapt to new realities. An honest and somewhat comedic tale of civilians adjusting to the return of soldiers,” said Petrosian.

According to the plot, the husband was injured by an enemy experimental weapon.

“During his surgery, while they were stitching him up… there were actually two of them. By shared DNA,” explained the director.

Petrosian chose this fantastical approach to avoid a purely documentary style, allowing the play to address sensitive topics, such as intimacy with a partner returning from war with injuries.

The lead role is played by Tamara Antropova. Two actresses, Fatima Horbenko and Maryna Koshkina, play a military medic. Liudmyla Smorodina portrays the mother.

Male characters are portrayed by actors who are actual Ukrainian defenders: Volodymyr Minenko, who sustained six injuries, and Artem Miaus.

At the same time, Petrosian is working on several other contemporary productions.

For example, in January 2026, the play Aeneid is scheduled to premiere. Its story begins seven days before the full-scale war and concludes with its end. The play, written by Maksym Kurochkin, follows a young author tasked with writing a screenplay for a Ukrainian film adaptation of Kotliarevsky’s Aeneid.

In collaboration with the Veterans’ Theater, Petrosian is also working on The State, based on the work of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. The director spent a year developing the idea of inviting war veterans — non-professional actors — to share their perspectives on stage.

“It will be both proper and interesting to hear their thoughts about an ideal future country in a performative production. It will be a full-fledged play, not a documentary, although personal stories may be incorporated,” Petrosian said.

The State will most likely be staged at the Ivan Franko Theater space.

Additionally, Petrosian, together with artist Kateryna Lipkind, is developing a production concept for another play by Maksym Kurochkin, based on Voltaire’s Candide. The story begins in 1974 in Kharkiv, where young Candide is born, and follows him to the 2014 war zone in eastern Ukraine (ATO).

“This will be a play about the transformation of a Soviet person into a Ukrainian,” the director noted.

As previously reported, the world premiere of the first opera by Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bortniansky, Creonte, will take place on October 3 in Chernivtsi.