Stand Up For Ukraine

The Finborough Theatre’s new digital initiative #FinboroughFrontier continues with the fourth instalment in our ongoing #VoicesFromUkraine season – a new complement to our season featuring a response to the war in Ukraine from an award-winning British poet and composer partnered with a Ukrainian artist.

In September 2022, Olivier Award nominated producer, poet, composer and activist Bréon Rydell was invited to Ukraine to experience first-hand, events that were unfolding in the war-torn country. Stand Up For Ukraine, covers the historical background and the political/social impact of the Russian invasion. It is also a passionate, poetic expression with a humanitarian perspective, telling of the personal and human tragedies that are taking place there, and of the suffering and devastating consequences of this continuing war, now in its eighth month. It is an emotional rallying call to the world to come together in support of Ukraine. The Film is based on an open letter written by Bréon, published shortly after commencement of Russian hostilities in Ukraine. It had its premiere In London on July 4th 2022 as part of the Finborough Theatre’s ‘Voices of Ukraine’ season which was produced by Artistic Director, Neil McPherson.

“Know us by our courage not by our fear.”

Inspired by his words, Ukrainian artist Anna Heller, from her temporary home in Berlin, has provided a powerful soundscape, drawing on her deeply personal experience of the conflict, to create a challenging, yet hopeful, sonic landscape.

Bréon Rydell’s work is characterised by its consistent humanitarian themes. He has always sought to highlight the suffering of others, using his work to bring empathy, and most importantly, to create a stirring, positive, narrative to help uplift the human spirit. In the 1980s, he was challenging the National Front with songs he had written for his indie band, Accent, and today his most recent work, Stand Up For Ukraine, a rallying cry for justice and freedom, seeks to provoke a more emboldened global response in support of the country in its battle against the brutal, authoritarian invasion by the Russian military:

“We have been here before. Throughout human existence, our ancestors fought for liberty, struggling repeatedly against ideological tyranny and human brutality.  Nothing is ever static in the river of life.”

Born and raised in the borderlands of Scotland, Rydell’s work has taken him across the globe. His love of humanity, and the upholding of human rights, has drawn him to write about conflict and war, including the troubles in Northern Ireland. He is deeply committed to defending freedom.

His collaborator, Anna Heller, is a 24-year-old, audiovisual artist, music producer and designer from Ukraine.

“I heard Bréon’s voice and words two weeks after I left Ukraine. The words touch my heart deeply. I wanted to design a soundscape which would reflect his message and guide people through the whole story, towards the truth.”

Previous work by Anna Heller has been supported by The British Council and celebrated Kyiv initiative, Fusion Jams.

Bréon Rydell
www.breonrydell.com
@breonrydell

Anna Heller
Instagram
Soundcloud
Behance

During lockdown, our acclaimed #FinboroughForFree series released monthly free-to-view archive recordings and original online content including new plays, rediscoveries, a community festival, and the Finborough Forum, our invitation-only group for theatre creatives. Our online work saw us awarded London Pub Theatres’ Award for Pub Theatre of the Year 2020, and our web series Late Night Staring At High Res Pixels won London Pub Theatres Standing Ovation Award for Best Online Theatre 2021.

We strongly believe that online work is an exciting new complement to our work, and are anxious to explore this new medium, embracing anything that can be presented digitally including film, livestream, audio, and hybrid. We are especially keen to develop digital work to increase our international engagement, and also to ensure that our work is truly available for everyone, especially those who cannot easily access our auditorium.

Since January 2022, we have continued our online work under a brand new name – #FinboroughFrontier, curated by Artistic Director Neil McPherson and Playwright-in-Residence Athena Stevens. All our online content will remain – as it was throughout lockdown – entirely free to view, and also be available in a subtitled version. Our first releases, earlier this year, were An Earls Court Miscellany, a celebration of the vivid history and personalities of Earl’s Court featuring poetry, prose and music, and filmed in the local area, and How To Make A Revolution by Einat Weizman with Issa Amro, a verbatim documentary play filmed in the UK and Hebron.

#VoicesFromUkraine #Українськіголоси #Ukrayinsʹkiholosy
Previous streaming releases in the #VoicesFromUkraine #Українськіголоси #Ukrayinsʹkiholosy include Otvetka by Neda Nezhdana, The Peed-Upon Armoured Personnel Carrier by Oksana Grytsenko and A Dictionary Of Emotions In A Time Of War by Yelena Astasyeva. Productions include Two Ukrainian Plays featuring Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s Take The Rubbish Out, Sasha in a double bill with Neda Nezhdana’s monologue Pussycat in Memory of Darkness, pairing Ukraine’s leading contemporary playwright together with a Ukrainian playwright making her UK debut. Two Ukranian Plays open at the Finborough Theatre on Tuesday, 9 August 2022 for a four week limited season.

Available FREE TO VIEW on the Finborough Theatre YouTube channel #FinboroughFrontier.

All videos are free to view but we do ask for donations to the Voices of Children Foundation, a Ukrainian charity providing urgently needed psychological and psychosocial support to children affected by the war in Ukraine. Visit the website here.

Available from Monday, 4 July at 6.00pm
Simultaneously available free with subtitles on Scenesaver