• 47m

When everything is true

Kharkiv Puppet Theater

Can humour survive when explosions are going off around you? How do you keep your inner light alive when everyday clothes are replaced by military uniforms? When Everything Is True is a documentary stand-up performance that explores these questions through the real-life experiences of two theatre actors who became soldiers.

The stage features just two performers: Tetiana Tumasiants and Oleksii Petrychenko, actors from the Kharkiv Puppet Theatre. They worked together in the theatre, volunteered together to join the Khartia Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, and experienced combat in the Kherson region and near Vovchansk. They transformed their military experience into a theatrical stand-up performance.

The performance is based on true stories experienced by the actors and their fellow soldiers. There is no fictional drama here—only the everyday reality of life in the trenches, where machine gunners drink kefir, stylists fire bursts from their weapons, and dark humour exists alongside the pain of irreparable loss.

The project evolved from intimate performances at Khartia Hub spaces in Kharkiv and Ivano-Frankivsk into a full-scale theatrical production featuring professional lighting, sound, and special effects.