About the project
“Wholly Full” by Valeriy Simonchuk
Wholly Full is a physical theatre performance that explores adaptation to change – either to long-term transformations or to crises, when the norms of everyday life become distorted and uncertain. In this context, the metaphor of “topography”, the fixation of changes in a landscape, is used, but the concept is expanded to refer also to the body, mental states and memory. Each of the three performers reflects on their specific experiences of change over the past years, which were marked by pandemic and war. Each in their own way questions the ways of finding wholeness in a state of permanent crisis.
This performance underwent a significant transformation during its creation process. The first stage lasted from January 2022 to 24th February 2022 and included research on the concept of normativity through the body and corporeality. After the start of russia’s full-scale invasion to Ukraine and those months, when the performers were engaged in everything but art, we moved on to the second stage, when the work became a kind of shelter, a space where we could share what we were going through. The long-term and scattered nature of work on the performance became one of its themes, creating an archive of ‘war in the body.’ With time, we began to work with the metaphor of topography and apply this concept to the body, memories and routes of people’s movement. The work continues.
Valeriy Simonchuk
About the author
Valeriy Simonchuk is a performer, actor, director and set designer. He studied sociology in the UK, where he also began practising as an actor and performer. From 2010, he had experience with improvisational, physical and documentary theatre and worked in a number of independent theatre groups both in Ukraine and abroad. He created performances at PostPlay Lab in Kyiv, including the site-specific performance “Nest” (2020) in Sabina Pop-Up Gallery and Good Vibes Only (2021). Recently he co-devised and directed performances “Horizonless Landscape” (2021) and “Antigone: Post-mortem” (2022) and co-authored and performed in the dance performance “Let’s Leave Her Nameless” (2024).
Presentations
- On December 21, 2022, Kozlovsky Center
- On January 15, 2023, Les Kurbas Center
- On October 4, 2024, Coordenadas FEST in Madrid.
Сredits
Production proto produkciia
Lead producer Olga Diatel
Executive producer Volodymyr Burkovets
Associate Producer Yuliia Parysh
Assistant Nata Zelenska, Anna Kovalchuk
Communication Olga Diatel
Design of posters Yaroslava Kovalchuk
Photo Valeriia Landar
Financial management Volodymyr Burkovets, Olena Serbuk
Supported by
The work was implemented by proto produkciia foundation and funded by the Stabilization Fund for Culture and Education 2022 of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut.