All That Remains

Historically, Vertep is a traditional Ukrainian Christmas folk performance. It combines the Biblical Nativity story with folk theater, music, and comedy. It was performed with puppets in a two-level portable theater, but today it is often staged with live actors.

A typical Vertep includes:

The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Biblical characters such as Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, and the Three Wise Men.
King Herod, whose attempts to kill the Christ child are central to the story.
Folk and comic characters—such as a Cossack, villagers, merchants, and other colorful figures—that provide humor, social satire, songs, and dances alongside the sacred story.

This was a show staged by the students of the Puppet Theater Department of the Karpenko-Karyi University of Theater, Cinema, and Television from Kyiv. It invoked Ukraine’s ongoing war for independence. Great and very moving show!

The play is based on the traditional Ukrainian theatre called “Vertep”. The canonical form of the action is full of modern content: the plot begins against the background of the biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ, where bloodthirsty creatures appear and destroy everything in their path. Under the bloody sun of war, sprouts of new hope grow. Hope that will change everything forever. Thus, the play retells the tragic events of the modern war, in which Ukraine is fighting for its independence.

12 July, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Vilnius Theatre Lėlė, Grand Hall (Arklių St. 5)
Duration 50 min.
Performance in Ukrainian with English subtitles