The Space of Action Is the Action of Space: The Emergence of Ukrainian Directorial Theater in the Modern Era

In the late 1910s, a group of young actors, united by a desire to reform the national stage, invited Les Kurbas to lead their troupe, which later became Molodyi Teatr (Young Theatre). At the time, Kurbas was strongly influenced by the emerging concept of director’s theatre, whose advocates sought to rethink the relationship between space and action. Rather than functioning merely as a backdrop, space now operated as an active element— an approach that paved the way for what was then called “spatial directing,” today more commonly known as scenography. This article investigates the innovative shifts in theatrical language that accompanied the birth of director’s theatre, paying particular attention to the contributions of artists Mykhailo Boichuk and Anatol Petrytsky to the development of Molodyi Teatr.