Project period: 1 July–31 December 2026
In the second half of 2026, we invite you to Ukrainian Stage – a series of eight performances by Wrocław-based independent GAS Theatre. The programme features four productions, each presented twice. Selected performances will be followed by thematic discussions with the artists and invited guests.
The project aims to broaden and diversify Wrocław’s cultural programme, make culture more accessible and support independent theatre. It also creates a space where people with different experiences, languages and perspectives can meet and engage in conversations about issues that matter to contemporary society.
The entrance to each performance is free of charge.
Here you can find the schedule of each performance
The Goal of the Project
The project seeks to strengthen the diversity of Wrocław’s cultural life and broaden the city’s cultural programme, while supporting the artistic work of independent GAS Theatre.
Through eight free performances, we want to make contemporary independent theatre more accessible to Wrocław residents and create a space for dialogue around issues that shape both individual lives and entire communities – including migration, war, memory, identity, culture and the future of Europe.
Theatre can bring different perspectives and experiences together. This project builds on that potential by combining artistic work with conversation and exchange between audiences, theatre-makers and invited experts.
Who is it for?
The project is open to Wrocław residents – both regular culture-goers and those who take part in the city’s cultural life only occasionally.
We welcome people born in Poland as well as those with migrant or refugee backgrounds for whom Wrocław has become a second or temporary home. As the city becomes increasingly multicultural and multilingual, an important part of the project is creating opportunities to meet, get to know one another and engage in dialogue across differences.
Ukrainian Stage is also for anyone looking for independent, contemporary and experimental theatre that engages with current social issues and explores forms beyond the mainstream repertoire.
Meet GAS Theatre – an independent Ukrainian theatre company in Wrocław
Independent GAS Theatre was founded in Wrocław in 2022 by Sofiia Onishchenko, Vasylyna Martseniuk and Daria Bohdan, graduates of the Wrocław Branch of the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. The company was formed after they were forced to leave Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
In their productions, the artists of GAS Theatre combine physical theatre, poetry, live music and documentary elements. Their work draws on experiences of war, migration and cultural memory while searching for new forms of expression and a contemporary theatrical language.
GAS Theatre creates a space for intercultural dialogue in Wrocław, where socially important issues can be explored and discussed from different perspectives. The company’s distinctive artistic language draws on both Ukrainian experimental theatre and the Polish theatrical tradition its founders encountered during their studies in Wrocław.
Performance schedule
The project features four GAS Theatre productions: “Anthology”, “Sweet and Sour”, “Tomorrow, Ten Years Ago” and “Starting Point”. Each production will be presented twice, for a total of eight free performances.
One performance of each production will be followed by a discussion exploring themes connected with the work, featuring members of the creative team and invited guests.
“Anthology”
Accompanying discussion: “Meeting Points. Translating Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry”
📅 24–25 October 2026 | 7:00 PM
📍 CUKR, ul. Ruska 46A/201, Wrocław
Running time: 80 minutes
Capacity: 70
Language: Polish
Surtitles: Ukrainian
Admission: free – registration details will be announced soon
Age guidance: details coming soon
Content note: the production addresses war and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine
“Anthology” features original live music and combines physical theatre with works by Ukrainian poets in Polish translation. The performance brings together canonical texts – primarily from the Ukrainian modernist tradition – with contemporary poetry, including works written during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Here, poetry becomes more than a form of artistic expression: it is also a way of preserving memory, documenting reality and responding directly to the experience of war. The production introduces Polish audiences to the richness of Ukrainian literature while asking what role culture and art can play in times of violence and uncertainty.
Direction and script: Sofiia Onishchenko
Performers: Anastazja Kohut, Marlena Kowalczyk, Diana Dochiiа, Ilia Prychyn
Composition: Serhii Savenko
GAS Theatre manager: Alina Buchko
The script features poems by Lesia Ukrainka, Bohdan-Ihor Antonych, Olena Teliha, Maik Yohansen and Mykhail Semenko, translated into Polish by Adam Pomorski, alongside works by contemporary Ukrainian poets.
“Sweet and Sour”
Accompanying discussion: “Remembering Through Theatre”
📅 29 October 2026 | 7:00 PM
📅 30 October 2026 | 7:00 PM
📍 Laboratory Theatre Space, Grotowski Institute, Rynek-Ratusz 27, Wrocław
Running time: 70 minutes
Capacity: 50
Language: Ukrainian
Surtitles: Polish
Admission: free; reservation of a free ticket in advance is required
Age guidance: details coming soon
Content and sensory advisory: war, war crimes, loud music
The village of Kyslivka in the Kharkiv region has just eight streets. If the trees lining them could speak, they would tell more than three hundred years of stories: of the everyday rhythm of mornings and evenings, of the Russian offensive and occupation, and ultimately of almost total destruction. But since the trees cannot tell those stories, people must.
“Sweet and Sour” is a documentary performance for one actor, based on interviews with people from Kyslivka. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion, they were forced to seek safety elsewhere in Ukraine and beyond its borders.
Combining devised theatre with physical theatre, the production is an attempt to preserve the memory of a place that the Russian army has almost erased from the map. At the same time, it is a story about pain, love, vulnerability and the right to hold on to one’s own memories.
Direction and script: Sofiia Onishchenko
Co-direction, choreography and set design: Daria Bohdan
Performer: Sofiia Onishchenko
Concept: Sofiia Onishchenko, Daria Bohdan
Music: Marina Mashtaler, Volodymyr Ponikarovsky
Live vocals: Marina Mashtaler
Production manager: Alina Buchko
“Tomorrow, Ten Years Ago”
Accompanying discussion: “Europe’s Future Is Shaped by the Decisions We Make Today”
📅 12–13 November 2026 | 7:00 PM
📍 Laboratory Theatre Space, Grotowski Institute, Rynek-Ratusz 27, Wrocław
Running time: 80 minutes
Capacity: 50
Language: Ukrainian
Surtitles: Polish
Admission: free
Age guidance: 12+
Themes: war, migration, growing up and the experiences of young people from Ukraine
What does it mean to grow up between two realities? How do you imagine your future while staying connected to home and finding your place in a new society?
“Tomorrow, Ten Years Ago” is a documentary theatre production co-created with young people from Ukraine aged 12 to 19, who come from different parts of the country. Most have spent the majority of their lives in a reality shaped by war and moved to Poland after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The production gives a voice to a younger generation – to their personal stories, experiences of growing up, reflections on the world around them, dreams and visions of the future. It brings the future – the “tomorrow” of the title – into dialogue with a past ten years earlier, drawing attention to the perspectives of young Ukrainians now living between Ukraine and Poland.
Direction and concept: Sofiia Onishchenko, Daria Bohdan
Script: Sofiia Onishchenko
Movement: Daria Bohdan
Composition: Serhii Savenko
Cast: Stefaniia Cherba, Maksym Dmytruk, Anastasiia Dzhulinska, Mariia Havrylova, Alina Khabinska, Ilia Prychyn, Mariia Romaniukha, Oleksandra Rudnienok, Polina Soliar, Ivanna Varenia, Ilia Voloshyn
GAS Theatre manager: Alina Buchko
“Starting Point”
Accompanying discussion: “Culture in Exile: The Ukrainian Experience”
📅 17–18 December 2026 | time to be announced
📍 Laboratory Theatre Space, Grotowski Institute, Rynek-Ratusz 27, Wrocław
Running time: 80 minutes
Capacity: 50
Languages: Ukrainian and Polish
Surtitles: Polish and Ukrainian
Admission: free – registration details will be announced soon
Age guidance: 14+
Content and sensory advisory: loud music and themes related to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the experience of forced migration
“Starting Point” is an absurdist post-documentary production exploring migration, distance and displacement through the intertwined histories of Ukraine and Poland.
The performance brings together documentary theatre, physical performance and sound experimentation. Its textual foundation includes contemporary Ukrainian drama – including excerpts from Tetiana Shelepko’s play “Point of Alienation” – documentary interviews with people who have experienced internal or cross-border displacement, as well as the performers’ own reflections and personal accounts.
The production looks at migration through several historical lenses: Polish emigration abroad, waves of Ukrainian labour migration in the twentieth century, and the emergence of today’s Ukrainian diaspora following 2014 and 2022. It is a story about displacement, memory, our relationship with home and the search for a sense of grounding in a new reality.
Direction and dramaturgy: Sofiia Onishchenko
Performers and co-creators: Anastazja Kogut, Solomiia Krasnoshtan, Iryna Sylinnyk
Music: Volodymyr Ponikarovsky, Marina Mashtaler
Text used in the production: excerpts from Tetiana Shelepko’s “Point of Alienation”
Production manager: Alina Buchko
Follow us on social media – more details about the performances and registration for free tickets are coming soon!
The project “Theatre Programme for the Second Half of 2026 – Ukrainian Stage. Eight Performances by Wrocław’s Independent GAS Theatre” is implemented by Fundacja Ukraina in partnership with independent GAS Theatre and the Grotowski Institute, and is co-financed by the Municipality of Wrocław.
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