Ivan Urivsky

Country: Ukraine

Biography

Ivan Uryvsky (Іван Уривський) is a Ukrainian theatre director known for his innovative stagings. While still a student, he directed Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors at the Vasylko Theatre in Odesa, where he became chief director in 2019. His production of Ivan Franko’s Crossing Roads at the Kurbas Theatre in Lviv earned the Les Kurbas Prize in 2019.

In 2020, Uryvsky moved to Kyiv to work at the National Ivan Franko Drama Theatre. Despite the challenges of the Russian invasion, he continued to direct and organize benefit events. In June 2022, he premiered Camus’s Caligula, the first new production during wartime. The play was later selected for the 2024 Off Avignon Festival, where it received critical acclaim.

In October 2024, he presented Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in Prague, co-directed with Anna Turlo. Uryvsky also received the prestigious Taras Shevchenko Prize for his modern adaptation of The Witch of Konotop by Hryhorij Kvitka-Osnovianenko. Following its success in Ukraine, the production is set to tour Berlin, Geneva, and Vienna in January 2025.

Caligula

Caligula by Albert Camus
Directed by: Ivan Uryvskyi
Music by: Ivan Uryvskyi
Set Design: Petro Bogomazov
Costumes: Tetiana Ovsiichuk
With: Vitalii Azhnov, Oleksandr Rudynskyi, Tetiana Mikhina, Liudmyla Smorodina, Olena Hohlatkina

Camus’ hero says: « We die because we are guilty. We are guilty because we are subjects of Caligula… » These words resonate powerfully when spoken by actors from the National Theatre of Kiev, engaged in a real war against another, much more real, Caligula. The play, inspired by the Roman emperor, immerses us in a world where madness and despotism intertwine.

The set, a geometric structure of wood and iron, evokes the dungeons of Louis XI, creating a stifling atmosphere. The actors appear and disappear from tiny cells, heightening the dramatic tension. The lighting, carefully crafted, fragments each scene, breaking down the presence of Caligula, played by Vitalii Azhnov, who portrays a manipulative and venomous character. Directed by Ivan Uryvsky, the production reveals a fallen Caligula, both touching and monstrous, in his quest for the absolute, destroying everything in his path.

The performance, intense and visually powerful, makes us question madness, manipulation, and the hidden evil in each of us. At the end, a quote from Camus echoes: « When a democracy is sick, fascism comes to its bedside, but not to check on its health. » A must-see production.