Screenwriter Ziemowit Szczerek and director Piotr Sieklucki of the New Proxima Theatre in Cracow are drafting a show about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. “Zelensky is an actor and this, in a sense, is the role of his life. He’s gaining the world’s support for Ukraine, which is extremely important. I would like to analyse this phenomenon,” declares Szczerek.
Ziemowit Szczerek is a journalist, screenwriter and the author of the books “Intermarium. The Journeys Through the True and Imagined Middle Europe”, “Mordor Will Get Us, or The Secret History of Slavs” and “The Tattoo of Tryzub”. He wrote a version of “The Witcher”, which is presented on the stage of New Proxima Theatre. His works are inspired by the history of Middle and Eastern Europe and his travels through them.
Szczerek is fascinated by Zelensky, which is why he decided to write a play about him.
“Zelensky was raised in Kryvyi Rih, an industrial, Russian-speaking city in middle Ukraine, where the Ukrainian identity isn’t that strong. He’s the epitome of what Vladimir Putin imagines all Ukrainians to be like. But as it turned out, he’s not a helpless Slav subjugated under the control of Ukrainian nationalists. He became the symbol of free Ukraine,” says Szczerek in an interview with Dziennik Polski.
The play, however, will not comment on the Russian-Ukrainian war specifically. Instead, it’s supposed to be a universal story, and the breakout of the war will be the starting point of the narrations. The director of the theatre Piotr Sieklucki wants to incorporate Ukrainian actors into the show. “They are already coming to Cracow, and they will need our help. That’s why we want to create a play about Ukraine, together,” he says.