We Shall Overcome

Belarusian stage director Palina Dabravolskaya (born in 1995), Czech musician Jiří Hradil (Tata Bojs, Lesní zvěř) and the Goose on a String ensemble get together to follow the footsteps of ordinary heroines, lending their voice to women who surmount diverse everyday challenges. Awaiting no recognition and appreciation, these real-life heroines raise children, run a household, take care of patients or strive to find a new vocation in a foreign country. Their actions and their way of thinking make them even go beyond the roles usually attributed to women. Either through monologues turning into songs, or in scenes resembling live concerts, the spotlight is focused on today’s forms of female heroism. In the outdoor premises of the theatre we are exposed to a high dose of boost and inspiration. Let us join the words of Madeleine Albright, a native of Czechoslovakia: “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.”

The playscript was written with the support from the 2023 TWB festival.

Following her enforced departure from Belarusian, Palina Dabravolskaya (b. 1995), a 2017 graduate from the Belarusian State Academy, pursued her studies in Warsaw under the internationally recognized movie and stage director Ivan Vyrypaev. Her first staging achievement (Mikita Ilyintchinko’s play ‘Peace Is Dying’) ranged among one of the 2019 best Belarusian productions. Invited to the Theatre World Festival Brno in 2022, Dabravolskaya presented her musical drama Sarmatia relating an endeavour to take root in a foreign country which combines folk music and hip hop.