BUNKER CABARET
Presented by Hooligan Art Community in collaboration with Mahogany Opera and imPOSSIBLE Producing.
A kaleidoscope of dance, drama and song born in the bomb shelters of Kyiv.
Produced as part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture supported by the British Council and Ukrainian Institute.
Is there a War inside of me?
BUNKER CABARET is a bold new performance by Hooligan Art Community that started life in the bomb shelters of Kyiv toured the UK and Internationally in 2023 with a group of small organisations and individuals who responded to a campaign of kindness to support the tour.
Combining music, poetry, dance and film, this unique theatre event is a powerful exploration of love versus totalitarianism, and the personal conflicts of making art in time of war.
Hooligan Art Community’s 2023 tour of Bunker Cabaret marked the anniversary of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We’ve been lucky to have them among us; this is powerful, urgent, necessary theatre. I’m not convinced the ‘theatre sector’ as a whole really understood how lucky, but some got it, and we should be hugely grateful to them: Bunker Cabaret was able to tour the UK thanks to the commitment of small organisations, independent producers and local communities who responded quickly to the company’s needs. Hooligan Art Community co-produced the UK tour of Bunker Cabaret with Mahogany Opera in collaboration with Impossible Producing and Andrea Ferran. Bravo to them.” Dominic Cavendish, Theatre Critic for the Telegraph on the final performance of Bunker Cabaret at OVADA, Oxford. Full review here
Campaign of Kindness Tour - January - July 2023
The Poly - Falmouth
The Ladder - Redruth
Schaubuehne Lindenfels - Leipzig
DOCK 11_ / Berlin
Somerset House - London
Waterford - Ireland
Belper Fringe, Derby
The Old Courthouse, Wigan
Longfield Hall, London
OVADA, Oxford Arts Festival
Company
BUNKER CABARET – Written and devised by Hooligan Art Community
Performer - Mirra Zhuchkova
Performer - Sam Kyslyi
Performer - Danylo Shramenko
Lighting designer - Natalka Perchyshyna
Video artist - Liubov Sliusareva
Costume designer - Paul Kuraksin
Movement and Dramaturgical Consultant - Mathis Kleinschnittger
Director - Peter Cant
BACKGROUND
On 24 February 2022, the full-scale Russian invasion brought war to all of Ukraine. Hooligan Art Community’s work was disassembled overnight and its artists displaced.
Two months after the invasion began, the situation in Ukraine allowed women from the company to travel to a residency in Germany, while two male members of the company remained in Ukraine, restricted by law from leaving the country.
In spite of this, the male actors worked together in a bomb-shelter in Kyiv, developing new scenes which would become the inspiration for BUNKER CABARET.
THE COMPANY
Hooligan Art Community is an independent theatre company established in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2019. The group makes performances in non-traditional spaces that explore the dynamic relationship between actor and audience. The group has worked entirely outside of the state theatre system creating work that advocates for freedom of expression and equality.
The tour of BUNKER CABARET takes place as part of the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture, designed jointly by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute, with additional funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation and The Foyle Foundation. BUNKER CABARET is produced by Mahogany Opera, imPOSSIBLE Producing and Andrea Ferran.