Azhnov's show "Sam"

Actor Vitalii Azhnov, who played the lead role in the film "Malevich" and captivates audiences in plays by director Ivan Uryvskyi, invites you to the poetic show "SAM" (Alone). The Ukrainian word will resonate within the ORIGIN STAGE space in an unexpected fusion with contemporary jazz, expressive costume design, and conceptual video art that enhances every word and pause.

The "SAM" show emerges as an honest and profound dialogue about feelings, love, and loneliness, grounded in Ukrainian prose and poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries – from Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi to Bohdan-Ihor Antonych. At the center of the story is a protagonist balancing between reality and the dream world: he searches for meaning, finds love, and experiences the pain of loss. This complex character is portrayed by Vitalii Azhnov – a versatile and expressive actor known for his roles as Caligula in the production of the same name, Banquo in "Macbeth," and Frédéric in "L'Arlésienne." In this author's project, which the performer himself defines as existential, Vitalii steps beyond his usual roles and consciously provokes the audience. Together with director Maksym Svets, the artist explores themes usually kept silent or discussed with caution: vulnerability, sincerity in experiencing emotions, and physicality.

The program is based on texts from the 1920s and 30s – a period that left a powerful cultural legacy. It features poems by the provocative futurist Mykhail Semenko and the "king of the futurist prairies" Geo Shkurupii, the subtle lyricist Yevhen Pluzhnyk, as well as the master of melancholy Bohdan-Ihor Antonych and the lyricist Vasyl Atamaniuk. Most of these authors represent the era of the Executed Renaissance. These are authors whose voices have not disappeared; today, they sound especially poignant and relevant.