A preview performance of Heaven to Earth Plus, based on the play Ghosts in the Branches by Ukrainian writer, artist, director and serviceman Valeriy Puzik, has taken place in London. It is the first full-scale stage production of the play.
Puzik reported this on his Facebook page.
The production was directed by Sandra Topolska. The original plot was retained in the adaptation, but the number of characters was reduced, while some monologues were supplemented or replaced with poems by the late serviceman and poet Maksym Kryvtsov. Six of his poems are performed in the production.
Heaven to Earth Plus is an autobiographical story of a Ukrainian serviceman about life on the boundary between life and death, fear and the experience of war, Chytomo reports. The production combines dramatic text, Ukrainian folk songs, live music and poetry.
The play will be staged three more times in London in November – on 7 November at 19:00, 14 November at 17:00 and 21 November at 17:00 at The Space Theatre. The performances are part of the Voila! Theatre Festival, which will run in London from 2 to 22 November. The festival will bring together performances in different languages at several theatres across the city.
The cast of Heaven to Earth Plus includes Matviy Smirnov, Volodymyr Protsiuk, Viktoriia Khadzhyyu, Oleksandra Topolska, Dmytro Fonariuk, Mathieu Robert, Yosyp Hargа, Iryna Vasiuk, Tomasz Sokulskiy, Nina Davydova and Olha Koniv. The production also features musical director Tetiana Makovey, pianist Nataliia Huz, double bassist Peter Savula, choreographer Alona Antipenko, costume designer Iryna Vasiuk and technical operator Oleksiy Datsenko.
Valeriy Puzik’s play Ghosts in the Branches was published in 2025 as part of the Drama Panorama project. It was previously translated into English and presented as staged readings in the United States.
Valeriy Puzik is a serviceman, poet, prose writer, artist, director and screenwriter. He is the author of With Love – Dad, Stray Dogs, Monolith, I Saw Him Alive, Dead and Alive Again, and The Mine. Morning Report. He is also a co-author of Our Cats. The Dugout (published by Laboratoria, Summit-Knyha, DIPA, Old Lion Publishing House and Folio) and a co-author of the forthcoming collection #Frontmeny (333 Publishing House).