City Garage presents the world premiere of “Ghost Land,” a new piece commissioned by, and written for City Garage by Ukrainian playwright Andriy Bondarenko, about the war in Ukraine and its human costs. The play is made up of three, interconnected stories: a soldier dealing with combat trauma; a family trapped in the war zone whose home is invaded by a pair of Russian soldiers; and the third, a girl who survives a Russian torture cellar. The brutality of the reality of the war is mixed with fictional and even mystical ideas about suffering, violence, idealism, and the hunger for peace. Despite the grim material, it works in a dream-like, hallucinatory way that is poetic, powerful, and hauntingly beautiful. City Garage presents the world premiere of “Ghost Land,” a new piece commissioned by, and written for City Garage by Ukrainian playwright Andriy Bondarenko, about the war in Ukraine and its human costs. The play is made up of three, interconnected stories: a soldier dealing with combat trauma; a family trapped in the war zone whose home is invaded by a pair of Russian soldiers; and the third, a girl who survives a Russian torture cellar. The brutality of the reality of the war is mixed with fictional and even mystical ideas about suffering, violence, idealism, and the hunger for peace. Despite the grim material, it works in a dream-like, hallucinatory way that is poetic, powerful, and hauntingly beautiful.
Stage Raw - Recommended! Top 10!
"Ukrainian playwright Andriy Bondarenko brings the horrors inflicted on his compatriots by Russia’s invasion to surrealistic life... Director Fréderique Michel effectively complements Bondarenko’s dreamlike work with live video that provide full-face depictions of the characters, as well as recorded images (video designed by Sannazzaro). Other creative staging choices, such as soldiers carting off wooden crates as if they were their own coffins and Charles Duncombe’s moody lightning — along with sturdy performances from the ensemble —– heighten the stark nature of Bondarenko’s opus.
Martίn Hernández, Stage Raw
https://stageraw.com/ghost-land/
“When the final revelation comes, it hits like thunderclap…. the full context of all we've experienced since the lights came up at the start becomes clear. I was shaken. Among other things, the play ceased to be about just what is happening in Ukraine or even about the hell of modern war. It became about me, and you, and everyone who has ever had to endure the trauma of real evil. Of those moments when the worst of us turn this earth into a real Hell. More, how do we heal after that?”
David MacDowell Blue, The World Through Night-Tinted Glasses
https://zahirblue.blogspot.com/2023/09/ghost-land-review.html
“The reality of Bondarenko’s ghost land is vividly brought to life in Frederique Michel’s staging….haunting images…top notch, effectively setting the mood.”
Rob Stevens, Haines His Way
Ghost Land reviewed by Rob Stevens | Haines His Way
