Hooligan is a music-theatre performance devised by Hooligan Art Community - a collective of actors and artists from Kyiv, Ukraine. The work was devised in a Culture Bridges / British Council residency at Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, in July 2019. It was further developed in March 2020 in London with a participating group of 20 local young adult performers, in collaboration with Mahogany Opera and Battersea Arts Centre. Performances at ICA were cancelled due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
'Hooligan' tells the true story of actor Sam Kyslyi’s teenage years as a football hooligan, fighting in violent clashes with enemy football supporters. Sam ritually opens the door to his past, and the audience is invited to follow him. Satan (Danylo Shramenko), the fallen rebel angel from John Milton's poem 'Paradise Lost' becomes Sam’s opponent on the journey, flanked by a chorus of balaclava-clad hooligans, in a battle for the young man’s soul.
Directed by Peter Cant (UK) in collaboration with composer and choral leader Jessica Maryon-Davies (UK), light artist Natalka Perchyshyna (Ukraine), live electronic composer / sound designer Olesia Onykiienko (Ukraine), actor and producer Danylo Shramenko (Ukraine), actor and writer Mirra Zhuchkova (Ukraine) and actor Semen Kyslyi (Ukraine).
Filmed as a live-stream by Open Theatre at the end of Peter Cant's Culture Bridges / British Council Residency at Mystetskyi Arsenal.
0:00:00 • Pre-set: sound / video installation
0:05:30 • Show begins
Please note: from 1:19:00 to 1:21:50 there is a disturbance in the sound recording
For information and updates:
Instagram: @hooligan_art_community
Facebook: @hooligan.theatre.performance
Contact: petecant [at] hotmail.com