There is an ancient Ukrainian tradition when people of different origins, professions, gender, age gather and stage a customized musical which tells the story of the birth of Jesus.

 

Our project combines tradition and contemporary. Moreover, it unites people. It is based on the conceptual art vertep concept, a curatorial development of the Art Contact Ukraine.

 

This vertep united 9 NGO leaders, journalists, researchers, artists, writers, designers, singers, entrepreneurs. Beautiful carols were performed in Ukrainian. It featured costumes by a famous Ukrainian conceptual fashion brand GA.EVA. The vertep was composed by Tetyanka Shpaykher, who has been creating verteps for the Ukrainian community within and outside Ukraine for more than 10 years. This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know Ukrainian culture both from the traditional and contemporary side, and to listen to the legendary "Shchedryk" – a Ukrainian Christmas carol, which was later adapted as an English “Carol of the Bells”.

 

The plot

In 2023, at Christmas, God sends British journalist Gareth Jones to Ukraine, who was the first to tell the world about the Holodomor back in 1933. On the ninetieth anniversary of the Holodomor, God calls Gareth to Himself and allows him to visit Ukraine with the Christmas angels.

 

The Vertep was staged in English.

The staging of the vertep was attended at Hofburg (Vienna, Austria) by the diplomats of 18 countries to the OSCE and at Amtshaus Margareten (Vienna, Austria) by 150 guests from different countries.

Team

Curated by: Yana Gryniv, founder of Art Contact Ukraine
Author (plot, script, title): Tetyanka Shpaykher
English translation by: Mark Klenk & Olga Zhminko
Costumes by: GA.EVA
Directed by: Yuliia Mykhalska

Movie by: Kryla Communications and Art Contact Ukraine
Photo by: Maryana Kosovan, Mariia Tsaritsyna
Makeup by: Sofia Yasnitska
Choir: Olena Vyshnevska, Artem Paches, Vyshnevsky Sisters (Hanna Vyshnevska, Olga Vyshnevska)
Cast: Alla Stashchenko, Anna Miller, Andriy Yavorskyi, Andry Karioti, Danylo Tsikhotskyi, Helene Litorelle, Irina Romanishin, Iryna Yeremenko, Ivan Kopylov, Kateryna Sihaieva-Kopylova (solo singer), Mark Klenk, Miriam Schocher, Mishel Kramar (solo singer), Oksana Schocher, Oksana Yavorska, Olena Dvoretska, Oles Vodotyka, Olga Zhminko, Vasyl Korotkyi

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The movie

The whole process of the Vertep´s staging was documented into a movie "Vertep. Despite of".

The “Vertep. Despite of” movie is based on the project “Vertep with Gareth Jones”, curated by Yana Gryniv, organized in partnership with the scriptwriter Tetyana Shpaykher and fashion designers Gaeva. The performance was staged at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna in 2024.

With the kind support of: NGO Mrija, NGO Domivka.

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