The Hague
An imaginary trial against the war crimes of Putin.
Written by Sasha Denisova
Cultural center de Balie, Amsterdam
Location
English with Ukrainian subtitles
Language
2024
Date
1,5 hour
Duration
PHANTASMAGORIA
The Hague by Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova, written soon after the beginning of the war, is a grotesque, funny and sinister “phantasmagoria” based on real events and people related to the Russian war in Ukraine.
The Hague sets up an imaginary trial at the Hague tribunal against the war crimes of Putin and his inner circle of close collaborators, enacted in the fantasies of a little girl, who keeps a diary of her horrifying everyday life in Ukraine.
The text weaves together various facets of the political and ideological realities of the Russian Federation together with fragments of real war stories, and documentary elements from family tragedies, arranged in a non-linear story, creating the image of the war in the girl’s cognitive and emotional world.
Cast: Victoria Koblenko, Alesia Adrushevska, Oksana Borbat, Bram Gerrits, Manja Topper, Benjamin Moen, Erik van Welzen, Oleksandra Bilousova, Aleksej Ovsiannikov, Milena Kompaniiets, Artem Smotrych
Creative Team
Author: Sasha Denisova
Director and dramaturg: Yasha Gudzenko
Set and costume design: Yasha Gudzenko
Video artist: Nadia Bakhshi
Techniek: Jasper Wezenberg
Photography: Stefan Jansen
Financial support Nederlands Letterenfonds, De Balie, De Toneelmakerij
Art Support Merlijn Geurts, Loes Nooij, Caspar van Gemund
Cast
Putin: Victoria Koblenko
Girl: Milena Kompaniiets
Simonyan: Alesia Andrushevska
Matvienko: Benjamin Moen
Prigozhin: Erik van Welzen
Schoigu: Bram Gerrits
Patrushev: Manja Topper
Surkov: Aleksej Ovsiannikov
Kadyrov: Artem Smotrych
Attorney: Oleksandra Bilousova
Live contrabass sound: Arkadi Romansky
