The project focuses on the activation and empowerment of newcomers from the Ukrainian community. It enables them to name their own needs and engage in their fulfilment. It improves communication between newcomers, local institutions and the general public. A key part of the project is the creation of community theatre performances involving people with refugee experience themselves. Professional theatre practitioners help them to translate their often dramatic life stories and experiences into the form of a play.

The first of these performances is Benteha / Bentega. The title of the production is based on the Ukrainian word “benteha”, which describes a prolonged state of restlessness and tension. These feelings permeate the entire performance, which captures the personal accounts of young people from Ukraine. Fragments of monologues, movement scenes and poetry reflect their life in a foreign land, memories of home and hope for the future.

“The audience will see authentic testimonies that are very personal for us and for the participants. We tried to capture how their perception of war, identity and new environment is changing,” explains dramaturg Matěj Nytra. Director Max Nowotarski adds. They choose what they want to say and how they want to say it. Our role is to be curators of their testimonies.”