Donbas Review: A Ukrainian Family Fractures on the Brink of Invasion
Olga Braga's stark new play, the winner of Theatre503's international playwriting award, presents a grim portrait of war in Ukraine. This smartly wrought and tightly packed production clings to the moments before Russia's full-scale invasion of the Donbas in 2022, as Braga conjures a bleak microcosm of conflict within a cramped Ukrainian home.
High Tensions in a Cramped Household
Every element of this sometimes overloaded show works hard, with already elevated tensions within the household increasing as the external threat of Russian occupation creeps closer. Director Anthony Simpson-Pike makes ambitious use of the small stage in his first show as artistic director, while Niall McKeever's set feigns simplicity only to rip itself impressively apart when invasion strikes.
Dreams are already shattered when we meet our cast. Jack Bandeira stalks the stage as Sashko, a young man with hungry eyes recently released from a Russian jail. Desperate not to give an inch to the invaders, he clashes with his coiled father Seryoga, played by Philippe Spall, who is willing to stick to Russian rules if it means survival.
Machismo and Moments of Tenderness
In a play of machismo and squared shoulders, which on occasion devolve into shouting matches, the finest moments are those of small tendernesses. When Sashko asks his father's Moldovan girlfriend Marianca, portrayed with appeasing warmth by Sasha Syzonenko, to teach him how to correctly pronounce her name, their shoulders sink into each other in a rare moment of intimacy.
Heritage matters profoundly in this household. Characters speak of pure-blood Ukrainians, of neighbors not being welcome because of where they were born rather than where they have always lived. Steve Watts and Liz Kettle provide a too-brief and much-needed reprieve as kindly neighbors, adding a jolly and flirtatious contrast to the prevailing tension.
Expanding Scope and Stretching the Heart
The play's urgency is occasionally slowed by Sashko's folkloric stories, which he tells to calm a neighbor's silent, watchful granddaughter. Meanwhile, nearby, a gun is trained on the family's street as Bandeira and Spall double up as soldiers keeping watch in an abandoned house.
These secondary characters expand the scope of the play but also stretch its emotional core. They are somewhat thinly drawn to accommodate all the action, with insufficient time given to feel individual agony fully. In Sashko's stories, he explains what it means to have a good death rather than a wasted one.
A Grim Reminder of War's Random Ugliness
By depicting the random ugliness of war, Donbas reminds us that this meagre hope is just another story we tell ourselves to get by. The production runs at Theatre503 in London until 28 February, offering a powerful and timely exploration of familial fracture under the shadow of invasion.
The play captures the suffocating tensions of a household as war looms, finding flashes of tenderness amid the rising threat. It serves as a poignant reminder of the human cost of conflict, set against the backdrop of Ukraine's ongoing struggle.
