29 May - 28 June 2025
Join dash arts for the world premiere of our new theatre production
A journalist meets a man in a ruined village outside Kyiv.
Why don’t you start with when the war began for you?
The Man from Stoyanka is a security guard, just an ordinary man. But when everyone else flees, he stays. As his home turns into a no man’s land, he chooses to take extraordinary action.
And she’s there to record it - for the history books, the courts, for humanity.
Written by Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton, and directed by Burton, The Reckoning is a vivid and powerful new play about war, survival and the fragile trust between those who uncover the truth and those who must live with it.
Based on real events within The Reckoning Project’s verified archive of witness testimonies of the Russian war in Ukraine, The Reckoning is playful and unsettling, blending storytelling with movement, music and cooking.
DATES
The Reckoning runs from 29 May to 28 June 2025
19:00 Mon-Sat evenings
15:30 Sat matinees
To stay up-to-date on future events and updates, sign-up to our mailing list.
For press and media enquiries, contact Cliona Roberts cliona@crpr.co.uk.
Venue
Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin St, London, E8 3DL
Creative TEAM
By Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton
Director Josephine Burton
Composer Anton Baibakov
Set Designer Zoë Hurwitz
Lighting Designer Joshua Pharo
Movement Director Josie Daxter
Costume Designer Olivia Jamieson
Sound Design Bella Kear
Artist Wellbeing by Lou Platt
Food Consultant Olia Hercules
Casting Director Abby Galvin
Testimonies consultants Nataliya Gumenyuk and Peter Pomerantsev
CAST
Marianne Oldham, Tom Godwin, Olga Safronova, Simeon Kyslyi, and Danylo Shramenko.
Marianne Oldham
Theatre includes: Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and King Lear for The Globe Theatre, A Monster Calls for Bristol Old Vic and The Old Vic, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead for The Old Vic, The Argument, Hampstead Theatre, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, Chichester Festival Theatre, You Can Still Make a Killing, Southwark Playhouse, The Real Thing and The Changeling for ETT, Hamlet and The Seagull for The Factory, Design for Living and Persuasion for Salisbury Playhouse, An Inspector Calls, Novello/Wyndhams Theatre, The Years Between, The Royal & Derngate, The Girl in the Yellow Dress, Market Theatre Johannesburg/Live Theatre Newcastle, Troilus and Cressida, Cheek by Jowl, At the Arcola: Meet Me at Dawn, Sons without Fathers (Platonov) and Uncle Vanya(both with The Belgrade Theatre)
Television includes: The Midwich Cuckoos, Sky, A Very English Scandal, The Living and the Dead, The Musketeers, The Crimson Field, The Impressionists and WPC56 for BBC1, Life in Squares, Ecosse Films for BBC2, Grantchester, Endeavour and Foyle’s War for ITV, Has Fallen 2 for Canal +.
Film includes: Finding Your Feet, and Absolutely Anything
Tom Godwin
Theatre includes: Professor Bernhardi, Victory Arcola, Best of Enemies Noel Coward Theatre, Tina! Aldwych Theatre, Woman in Black Fortune Theatre, Earthquakes in London NT, Beneatha’s Place, Bingo, Best of Enemies Young Vic, ENRON Chichester, Royal Court & Noel Coward Theatres, City of Glass Lyric Hammersmith/ 59 Productions, Macbeth Park Avenue Armory NYC, To Kill A Mockingbird Regent’s Park Theatre, Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare’s Globe, The Crash of the Elysium Punchdrunk/MIF, Get Santa! Royal Court, Henceforward, Arsenic & Old Lace Derby Playhouse, Elizabeth Rex Birmingham Rep, The Little Mermaid Bristol Old Vic, Secret Heart, Volpone Manchester Royal Exchange, Skylight Vaudeville Theatre
Television includes: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms S.1, Doc Martin, The English, Discovery of Witches, The Irregulars, Hendrix & Handel, Joe All Alone, Coronation Street, Quacks, Eastenders, The Hollow Crown: Henry VI, Taboo, Family Tree, Psychoville
Film includes: Savage House, Napoleon, Alice Through The Looking Glass, About Time
Simeon Kyslyi
Simeon is an Actor, Singer, Dancer, and Co-founder of Hooligan Art Community. He trained at the Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema, and Television, and starred in lead roles early in his career at the Dakh Contemporary Art Center in Kyiv.
Simeon has worked on international productions across Europe (England, Germany, Spain), with notable projects including I Tell You We Must Die at the Deutsches Theater and Interbeing (2Theatre), also showcased at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
With Hooligan Art Community Simeon developed Bunker Cabaret, which premiered at Somerset House to great critical acclaim, and has been featured at various prestigious festivals throughout Europe.
Olga Safronova
Olga is a graduate of the Ukrainian Film School and has trained at Drama Centre London (summer school). She has experience in physical performance with Aktorstvo theater in Kyiv, Ukraine, and since 2022, she has also been engaged in military interpreting.
Highlights include:
Theatre: Booking Clerk/Queen in Restless Choice (Aktorstvo), Widow in Rebirth (Aktorstvo), Nasie in Duel (Classic).
Film: Olesya in Daddy’s Little Scratch (53th Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival selection for National and International competition), Katya in The Drill, Funny Woman in I Work At The Cemetery.
Television: Stasya in Season 3 of Dr Kovalchuk, Kateryna Motsak in Sex Insta Exams, Halyna Avramets in Material Evidence.
Food for Thought
As the performance ends, the conversation continues. Audiences will be invited to hear reflections from expert speakers—journalists, lawyers, and those with lived experience of the conflict.
29.05.25 - Professor Rory Finnin - University of Cambridge
31.05.25 - Alissa Timoshkina - Chef and Author
02.06.25 - Nataliya Gumenyuk - Journalist and CEO, Public Interest Journalism Lab
04.06.25 - Janine di Giovanni - Journalist and Executive Director, The Reckoning Project
05.06.25 - Peter Pomerantsev - Journalist, Author and Executive Editor, The Reckoning Project
06.06.25 - Dr. Olesya Khromeychuk - Director, Ukrainian Institute London
07.06.25 - Maxine Marcus - Criminal Prosecutor, Partners in Justice International
09.06.25 - Orysia Lutsecych OBE - Russia and Eurasia Programme Deputy Director, Chatham House
10.06.25 - Martin Bright - Editor at Large, Index on Censorship
11.06.25 - Olia Hercules - Chef and Food Consultant for The Reckoning
12.06.25 - Aarif Abraham - Barrister, Keating Chambers
13.06.25 - Peter Jukes - Executive Director, Byline Times
14.06.25 - Nick Tranter - Volunteer at 4Ukraine Humanitarian Aid
16.06.25 - Dr. Uilleam Blacker, UCL
17.06.25 - Kateryna Babkina - Index on Censorship
18.06.25 - Inna Hryhorovych MBE - Executive Director, Ukrainian St Mary’s Trust
19.06.25 - Anna Reid - Journalist and Author
21.06.25 - Val Voshchevska - Digital Creator and Artist
23.06.25 - Luke Harding - Journalist and Author
24.06.25 - Olga Tokariuk - Senior Analyst
25.06.25 - Viv Groskop - Author and Journalist
26.06.25 - Lord Charles Banner KC - Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
28.06.25 - Daniella Peled - Managing Editor, Institute for War & Peace Reporting
28.06.25 - Hanna Komar - English PEN
More speakers to come…
Food for Thought is programmed in association with Byline Times, Cambridge Ukrainian Studies Programme, English PEN, UK Friends of Ukraine, Index on Censorship, Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), Public Interest Journalism Lab, The Reckoning Project and Ukrainian Institute London.
Special thanks to Nataliya Gumenyuk, Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, Anna Lukanina, Daniella Peled and Peter Pomerantsev.
BACKGROUND
The Reckoning is part of The Reckoning Project, which gathers stories from survivors and witnesses to the current atrocities in Ukraine. Long after most journalists have moved on, their legally trained reporters spend months taking in-depth testimonies across Ukraine.
Our upcoming production follows a successful director-writer collaboration on the staged reading of Crimea 5am, funded by the British Council, co-written by Anastasiia Kosodii with Natalka Vorozhbyt, directed by Josephine Burton, produced by Dash Arts and presented at Kiln Theatre as part of the UK/Ukraine Season 2022/2023.
Read more about our decade-long programme of work with artists from Ukraine.
The Reckoning has been made possible with the support of partners The Reckoning Project, AHRC Impact Acceleration Account Award from the University of Cambridge, Public Interest Journalism Lab, Open Society Foundations, Nick Tranter in the name of 4Ukraine Humanitarian Aid, Fritt Ord Foundation, Goethe-Institut in Exile, Goethe-Institut London, SAV Group, The Golsoncott Foundation, and individual giving.
Support the reckoning
As we prepare for The Reckoning’s premiere, we have successfully raised the majority of the £148,000 budget. However, there is still £15,000 needed to fully realise this ambitious production. Your support will help us bring this powerful play to life, ensuring it reaches UK and international audiences at this critical moment.
Read more about how you can help us fund The Reckoning, or donate now.
All pictures shown below were taken during The Reckoning Script Development Workshop at Goethe-Institut London, in December 2023.
PODCAST
Stay up-to-date on the process of creating by subscribing to our podcast series ‘The Reckoning’ on Dash Arts Podcast - available on all streaming platforms.
BLOG
Follow our journey to see how we approach the in-depth research needed for The Reckoning, and how we developing a script with these heart-wrenching powerful stories.
