Berezil Theatre

The Berezil Theatre (Uk: Театр «Березіль») (1922–1933) was "the largest state-funded theatre in Soviet Ukraine." Founded by Les Kurbas, who was considered the greatest theater director of the 20th century, the avant-garde theatre troupe was named for March (Uk: березень, pronounced berezen), the first month of spring in Ukrainian and a period identified with renewal, an approach Kurbas "intertwined with Impressionism, Symbolism, and the experimental." "The overarching goal of Berezil's productions," he said, "was the synthesis of speech, movement, gesture, music, light, and decorative art into one rhythm or simple, dramatic language, based on the belief that theatre shapes rather than reflects life." In 1920, he summarized a successful performance by saying: "There were those who cried for us. There were those who thought that only our performances made them conscious Ukrainians."

Originally based in Kyiv, the troupe relocated to Kharkiv in 1926. Also known as Artistic Organization Berezil’ (BAA),[a]t its height, Berezil included six actors' studios (three in Kyiv, one each in Bila Tserkva, Boryspil, and Odesa), close to 400 actors and staff members, a directors' lab, a design studio, a theater museum, and ten committees, including a ‘psycho-technical’ committee that used applied psychology to develop new teaching methods for actors and directors.

The BAA organised the publication of the Barricades of Theatre (Uk: Barykady teatru) magazine and the Museum Commission, which collects documents on the history of Ukrainian theatre and creates a museum — known today as the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine. In 1925, Vadym Meller was awarded a gold medal by the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (Art Deco) in Paris for his scenic design at the Berezil. In 1927, Kurbas and the Berezil began collaborating closely with Ukrainian playwright Mykola Kulish. After the production of Kulish's last play, Maklena Grasa, Kurbas was sent into exile by the Commissariat of Enlightenment.

The theatre is now used by The Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theatre, which is also known as the Taras Shevchenko Kharkiv Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre (Uk: Харківський академічний український драматичний театр імені Тараса Шевченка), a national theatre with two stages: the largest has 900 seats, the other, known as the "Berezil Small Stage," has 115 seats. Its collection, known as the Berezil museum collection, is now housed in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Building 24).

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