“The Witch of Konotop” at Hackney Empire Marks 106 Years of the Ivan Franko Theatre

On the stage of Hackney Empire, one of London’s most storied venues, Ukrainian theatre reached a symbolic milestone. “The Witch of Konotop”, a darkly comic classic of Ukrainian literature, arrived in the British capital not as a cultural curiosity, but as a confident theatrical statement. The performance coincided with the 106th anniversary of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre — Ukraine’s most influential stage institution.

Founded in 1920, the Ivan Franko Theatre has survived revolutions, censorship, exile and war. Marking its anniversary on a London stage felt less like displacement and more like continuity. Ukrainian theatre has always spoken from the margins to the centre — and on this night, the centre listened.

Based on the satirical novella by Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, “The Witch of Konotop” exposes provincial power, superstition and male vanity with unsettling clarity. What once read as folkloric comedy reveals itself here as something sharper: a study of how irrationality becomes policy, and how cruelty often hides behind absurdity.

Director Ivan Uryvskyi avoids reverence. His staging strips folklore of nostalgia and replaces it with physical intensity and menace. The witches are not decorative. Authority figures are not comic relief. Laughter comes edged with discomfort, hovering close to tragedy.

The visual language is decisively contemporary. Stark lighting, choreographed movement and restrained scenography place the actors at the centre. The ensemble treats the text not as heritage, but as a living argument with the present.

For a London audience, the resonance is immediate. Superstition weaponised by power, collective hysteria dressed as morality, fear eroding reason — these themes feel uncomfortably familiar. The Ukrainian specificity only sharpens the play’s universality.

That the performance took place at Hackney Empire — a venue historically tied to satire, spectacle and social commentary — feels precise. Marking 106 years of the Franko Theatre in this way was not nostalgic. It was a reminder that institutions endure by reinterpreting their traditions under pressure.

On this London night, Ukrainian theatre did not arrive as a guest. It arrived as a peer.