TseSho (What's that?)

TseSho (from ukr. What’s that?) is a unique contemporary voice from Ukraine, which combines theatre, puppet shows, live music, poetry and video art. A social rave: the composite of text and music includes folk songs, children’s rhymes, traditional and contemporary poetry, the ensemble’s own texts, world news, Facebook contributions, memories and dreams – in Ukrainian and English. 

This Kyiv theatre group invites you into a music room. There five "children" in yellow overalls scream, sing, recite and play, sometimes together with their alter egos, which are five puppets dressed in the same way. Rhythms drive on music tracks that are funny, evil and crazy. The Social Rave shamelessly combines passages of classical Ukrainian poetry with throwaway Facebook posts and folk-song rhymes. The audience will ask, "What is this?" And that’s exactly what they want. Directed by Vlad Troitskyi, the mastermind of Gogol Fest and the Dakh Contemporary Arts Center in Kyiv, the guys combo uses a potpourri of musical and theatrical material in an unrestrained way. In doing so, they take a critical look at an incomprehensible world from the arresting perspective of children: How can identities be possible among fake news and misleading platforms? How do we find our place in society and history? How does war determine our destiny? Why are we living now, of all times? Is change possible? Is it worth it? TseSho?

Ukrainian and English with English surtitles