Teatre Lliure presents new work by 20 women war refugees

Polish director and singer Marta Górnicka is presenting her newest work 'Mothers. A Song for Wartime' for two days at Barcelona's Teatre Lliure on March 27 and 28.

The choral piece includes 25 women from Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, aged between 10 and 71, 21 of whom are refugees from the current war in Ukraine. 

"In this piece we try to talk about the most difficult thing: to look the horrors of war directly in the eyes, but we also incorporate the force of rebirth," Górnicka explained during the presentation on Tuesday. 

The show, described as a 'healing ritual', has a shchedrivka at its center, a traditional Ukrainian song performed only by women and children dating back to pre-Christian times.

Back then it was sung to make well wishes towards a particular person come true, now those wishes are sung by survivors. 

"The theatre is a way to fight for us women, it allows us to speak," says Veleriia Obodianska, one of the performers. She also points out that for all the women involved it is a "very important" project after experiencing "horrific things."

Tired of war 

Obodianska acknowledges that many people might be tired of hearing about the war but, according to her, that is not the right reaction.

"The only way for peace to come” would be to give importance to all the people dying because of the conflict, she says. 

The fact that the war has been happening for 2 years is a symptom of its “disappearance” from the spotlight in society according to Górnicka.

"The performers and I feel it in a very different way, that’s why we use theater as a tool to communicate about the terrible things nobody wants to remember," she says.