Kherson’s Mykola Kulish Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater continues staging performances in a basement amid the war. The company gave a concert on the final day of the localized humanitarian ceasefire and said it would not cancel its shows after the pause ended.
Director Oleksandr Knyha said performances take place on Saturdays and Sundays and the theater is preparing an additional shelter for audiences. About 100 of its 120 employees still work in Kherson, and he said none of them had evacuated.
The concert on the last day of the ceasefire was arranged as a musical journey across Ukraine, from Crimea to the Carpathian Mountains. Knyha is from Russian-occupied Oleshky and used to commute from there to Kherson. He still hopes to return home.
Costume maker Alla Vasylenko said even the quiet during the ceasefire made her anxious. She does not intend to leave: she has ten dogs, and she estimated that relocating would cost 30,000–50,000 hryvnias.
The localized ceasefire was arranged to allow aid deliveries and evacuations from Oleshky on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River. It was scheduled to end on the evening of November 1, and local officials warned that shelling could intensify afterward.