Virtual Museum “#Hamlet_UA: Act 1, Scene 1943” in the Context of Decolonizing Knowledge about Ukraine

Abstract

The article presents the history of the creation of the virtual museum: “#HAMLET_UA: ACT 1, SCENE 1943.” It emphasizes its significance for modern society in Ukraine and beyond, and highlights the features of navigation. The virtual museum elucidates the history of Ukrainian translations and theatrical productions of Hamlet in the 1860s and 1940s and demonstrates the importance of the first staging of this play in Lviv (1943, dir. Yosyp Hirniak) as a sign of resistance to both totalitarian regimes: Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. The information gathered in the museum will help to refute the imperial myth created by Soviet propaganda about the secondary nature of the Ukrainian reception of world classics. The exhibition of the first four halls presents the history of the first translations of Hamlet into Ukrainian, carried out in the period between 1865–1943, as well as the biographies of the translators. The following halls are dedicated to the production of Hamlet, which was performed by the Lviv Opera House (now The Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet) during World War II. The museum has collected unique pictures, facsimiles of documents, posters, and newspaper articles. This helps to imagine the character of Yosyp Hirniak’s performance. Of particular interest are the drawings, cartoons, and caricatures made by theatre artist Semen Gruzbenko (real name Gruzberg), and the theatre reviews that appeared immediately after the premiere. The hall entitled the ‘Post-history of the play Hamlet: Scattered Around the World’ reflects the life stories of the creators of this production after 1945. The bilingual character of the museum speaks to the intended audience, as inclusion of domestic and foreign audiences in the tour of the virtual museum’s collections is designed to help strengthen the spirit of our nation in times of war and to decolonize knowledge about Ukraine abroad. The idea of this project, initiated by Maiia Harbuziuk, found active support from English scholars (Nicola Watson, Michael Dobson), and was implemented through the joint efforts of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre (Head of USC Nataliya Torkut) and the Department of Theatre Studies and Acting of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Roman Lavrentii).