Ukrainian in Montreal hopes theatre will expand knowledge of world events

Ukrainian 20-year-old Daryna Dzyba hopes theatre will help those in Quebec learn about her country and culture.

It’s been four years since Russia invaded Ukraine - and the ongoing war has many in Montreal’s Ukrainian arts community longing for peace.

Daryna Dzyba was born in Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine.

At 20 years old, she says she still remembers it for its mountains and architecture. But since Russia’s invasion in 2022, that image is a far cry from the damage and distress that she knows today.

“I just came to Poland,” Dzyba says, who was 16 when the invasion began.

At the time, Dzyba was travelling back and forth from Poland for university.

“The train coming from Ukraine to Poland was like, it was like silence. Like everyone was like, should we leave or stay,” she told CTV.

Dzyba and her sister sought refuge through Canada’s emergency travel program in 2023. Their parents immigrated to Montreal six months later. Though Dzyba says they still worry about the family and friends they’ve left back home.

“You write. You say, ‘Hi, how are you? Are you okay? Because I saw that, like, there was three missiles just on Kyiv right now.’ And they’re like, ‘yeah, we have no lights, no electricity. But yeah, it’s okay.’ And you’re like, what should I say?” Dzyba says.

Where words fall short, Dzyba is taking to the stage. As a theatre student, she’s using her studies to share a message from her community.

“Kotygorochko” is a Ukrainian fairytale about a boy who defeats a dragon.

Dzyba is set to perform it in a show in Quebec City from March 4 to 7. She adds that this adaptation has a cliffhanger - and a lesson that reflects current events.

“I want people [to] be informed. That they have in their heads what’s happening and what could happen here. Cause don’t think that you are just protected by, I don’t know, by the ocean,” she says.

And for the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Dzyba is calling on all for solidarity - so that one day, those in Ukraine can once again feel safe at home.