In a metro station transformed into an air-raid shelter in Kharkiv, in the north-east of Ukraine, two puppeteers make puppets live a fairy tale, under the bewitched gaze of a dozen children and their parents.
A whole cast of puppets, including a king with a mustache and a herd of pigs, come to life under the expert hands of Oleksandra Shlykova and Anton Andriouchchenko to tell the story of “different” princesses. A way to make children and their parents forget the numerous Russian bombardments on Ukraine’s second largest city.
Using their cell phones, the puppeteers elicit a few laughs and even exclamations from their captivated audience. At the end of the show, Oleksandra bows to this small crowd and invites the children to come and play with the puppets.
“Performing live is always an emotion that is in the present moment”says Oleksandra Shlykova. “We exchange our emotions and we find our good mood. It’s difficult to describe it, you have to feel it.”
In Moscow’s crosshairs since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was withdrawing his troops from the kyiv region to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, Kharkiv has been experiencing deadly strikes every day. The metro stations of this city located just 21 kilometers from the Russian border have been transformed into huge underground shelters.
On Saturday, two people were killed and 18 others injured in a bombardment that targeted the city center, according to local authorities. And, from the same source, ten people died and 35 others were injured on Friday during a strike against a residential area.
In metro stations, mattresses and blankets rub shoulders with clothes, toys, toiletries. The wagons have been transformed into dormitories.
For Oksana, 37, the puppet show was a welcome brightening. “Truth and humor, it gives you a boost (of energy) and it makes you happy”, said this mother accompanied by her two daughters. They live in an underground shelter not far from there, but have made the trip so as not to miss the puppeteers. “When you attend this show, you remember the stories and then it changes the way you look at the world”she says.
On the other side of the city, another show, this time of poetry, takes place in a white brick bunker, where improvised beds are piled up. Serguiï Jadan reads a few verses aloud, with a melody in the background, under purple neon. In front of him, a small assembly attentively follows the lyrical and surreal monologue, with enigmatic animal figures.
This poem is a “brutal lullaby”, which is inspired by a children’s book, says Serguiï Jadan, a celebrity of the literary scene in Ukraine, where poetry is a national sport.
“A person cannot live with only war”he said. “It’s very important (for Ukrainians) to hear a word, to be able to sing together, to express a certain emotion.”