• 2h 21m
• Premiere 2015

Erik XIV

Ivan Franko Theater

Performance with reduced video quality

An archival production from the National Ivan Franko Drama Theater — the first staging of August Strindberg’s play on the Ukrainian stage. The action unfolds in 16th-century Sweden under King Erik XIV: a controversial ruler whose charisma, delusions of grandeur, and political missteps fuel civil strife, clashes with the Riksdag, and personal scandals. Director Stanislav Moiseiev reframes Strindberg’s intellectual drama for today: a story about power that corrodes the individual and a state’s fragility under a willful sovereign. In the title role, Yevhen Nyshchuk crafts a sharp psychological portrait of a monarch who “loses solid ground under his feet” through absolute power. The production blends historical perspective with a contemporary political metaphor, reminding us that ambition, fear, and impunity carry a price — for the ruler and for the country.

Performance with reduced video quality