Feminist Imagining in Polish and Ukrainian Theatres

This Element shows that women theatremakers in Ukraine and Poland redefine past, present, and future by creating feminist epistemologies.

This Element shows how women theatre artists in Ukraine and Poland respond to their socio-political realities after the early 2010s events. It features artists that explore the connections between patriarchy-rooted violence, gendered nationalism, women's reproductive rights, and decolonial critique.This Element explores how women theatre artists in Ukraine and Poland – separately and together – respond to their dynamically shifting socio-political realities after the early 2010s events: the pro-European Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the traditionalist, anti-European governance in Poland, both of which ignited mass women's protests. Engaging with diverse works – new writing, adaptations of classics, musicals, puppetry, and devised productions – Feminist Imagining features artists that explore the connections between patriarchy-rooted violence, gendered nationalism, women's reproductive rights, and decolonial critique. These underpin their transcultural and intersectional alliances and their proposals for concrete scenarios that redefine the past, present, and future, creating specific feminist imaginaries and epistemologies situated in Central-Eastern Europe. The Element captures the feminist turns in Polish and Ukrainian theatres, highlighting the practices of women artists from the so-called Eastern Europe, whose voices have long been nationally and internationally silenced.