Josephine Burton discusses writing and directing The Reckoning for Arcola Theatre
It would be easy for the British public to forget that there is still a war raging in Ukraine, as it is pushed down the news schedule by Trump’s concurrent idiocy and tactical diversion. But people continue to die there daily as Putin’s forces persist with their indefensible assault. Giving visibility to this important truth, Dash Arts are bring The Reckoning to the Arcola Theatre later this year. We spoke to Director and Co-writer Josephine Burton about how the production plans to confront this timely tale.
Hi Josephine. Thanks very much for finding time to talk with us today. We’ve seen a number of productions about the war in Ukraine come to the stage in recent years, so can you tell us what makes The Reckoning unique?
The Reckoning is rooted in real life stories from the current war in Ukraine. All the material comes from transcripts of testimonies which were given by survivors and witnesses to journalists working with lawyers. The lawyers are gathering evidence to prosecute Russians, to hold them accountable in the court of law. The team, The Reckoning Project, trusted us with the same material so that we might hold them accountable in the court of public opinion. And as my co-writer Anastasiia Kosodii and I read these testimonies, alongside reading all the details that the lawyers need, we read incredible human stories of everyday acts of kindness even in the horror, incredible reflections on how people survived the night and what they feel about justice, and even unexpected flashes of dark humour. And we realised that the journalists themselves were key for these reflections. They created the space so that the interviewees felt comfortable speaking. And so their role, and the relationships that they build with their subjects, became essential for our staging.
I guess then the particular unique insights we bring to the war is both the fact that we’re using real life testimony at the heart of our drama and through it exploring the relationships that are formed as a result of the war. I’m sad to say that I haven’t had the opportunity to see every play about the war in Ukraine so I couldn’t with all authority say that there’s never been anything like The Reckoning before. But it definitely feels new to Anastasiia and I as a writing process.
Who is journalist Peter Pomerantsev and what contribution has he made?
Peter Pomerantsev is a wonderful journalist and author, born in Kyiv and raised in London. About 10 years ago, he wrote a book called Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, reflecting on his experience of working in TV in Russia and watching truth and facts being manipulated by people in politics and power. His book ended with a Cassandra-like reflection that this post-truth epidemic might spread to the West if we didn’t try to stop it. Dash Arts had the privilege of hosting his book launch back at that time and Peter became a good friend. Peter was part of the team, along with Janine Di Giovanni, who established The Reckoning Project after the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And it was Peter who gave us access to the stories and connections across the wider team in Ukraine so that we could meet the journalists who are conducting the interviews and the lawyers and analysts who are working with the evidence. Since then he’s been a great ally, enthusiastic supporter and script advisor!
How did you go about selecting the accounts and testimonies we will hear?
Anastasiia and I spent a few weeks reading around 50 testimonies. I read them in their English literal translations, and Anastasiia, from her temporary base in Berlin, read them in their original language. And then we talked about them together – which stories resonated with us, what themes kept recurring and where were the natural connections between them. We had both separately been struck by the same extraordinary testimony from a security guard from Stoyanka, just outside Kyiv, who described initially being held hostage by Russians then being stranded for almost two weeks in what he called the grey zone, the no-man’s land between the frontlines. His urgent retelling of his experience, wandering alone through abandoned buildings and shelled cars, read like a film script. it was clear to us both almost immediately that his story was the heart of the play. And then, we started to do more research, and speak to the journalists who conducted the interviews, increasingly realising the crucial role they played. We spent time speaking to the journalist who interviewed the Man from Stoyanka. That conversation helped us understand the drama of our play. The testimonies that we finally selected all revolve around an encounter with these two central figures – a witness and a journalist who still lives with all the memories of the previous interviews that she’s conducted.
What’s the thinking behind putting food at the core of the performance?
We’ve brought food and drink into quite a few Dash productions in the past – to me, it can play a crucial part in creating community and a sense of fun. In The Reckoning, food has a really distinct purpose. We’re telling stories that are sometimes bleak and hard to hear. And I’ve spent quite a lot of time working with the creative team finding ways to balance that darkness with other, more homely, comforting and playful elements. Dash’s close friend and sometime collaborator, Olia Hercules is a Ukrainian chef based in London who has worked with me to weave in the preparing of a Ukrainian summer salad into the script. Not only will the food preparation help us to understand the characters at bit more, but the colours of the tomatoes and the cucumbers and the aroma of the cut dill will fill the Arcola with a sense of summer promise and new life. Plus, there might be a little treat at the end for our audiences.
Can you tell us about the cast and what they each bring to the show?
We have a wonderful ensemble. Aligned with the spirit of the whole international collaborative project, it is mixed Ukrainian and British. Our Ukrainian actors, Simeon Kyslyi and Olga Safronova have been involved with the production now for almost 18 months. They joined an early workshop when we had a first draft of the script and helped us understand the characters and the story better. They are both very physical, playful performers who help to bring the story to life. And crucially, they are both bilingual. They have both moved to the UK since the war began and are comfortable performing in English and Ukrainian, which brings such texture and authenticity to our staging. Marianne Oldham and Tom Godwin are newer to the project. They bring their extraordinary talent and empathy to their understanding of the characters which I hope will ensure that as well as telling a vital story about what is happening today in Ukraine, it transcends its Ukrainian context to tell a story of two people finding a connection even in the darkest of times.
You’re known for blending performance artforms to create new ways of understanding theatre. Can you talk a bit about how this might be seen in The Reckoning?
I’ve thought a great deal with my wonderful co-conspirators about how to bring this world to life for our audiences. Theatre is extraordinary – it can transport us, take us out of our daily routines and drop us into someone else’s lived reality. With The Reckoning, I wanted to offer a shared encounter with a shattered world on the other side of Europe – but one that still feels immediate, human, and recognisable.
To do that, we’re engaging all the senses. It’s a careful balance between the familiar and the unsettling, the playful and the painful. We use music, languages, food, movement and humour not just to immerse the audience, but to offer contrast – to hold the heaviness of the testimonies alongside moments of warmth or beauty. So as we hear these difficult stories, we might also be beguiled by the smell of fresh dill, or moved by a sudden burst of music, or carried somewhere new by abstract physical imagery.
Someone once said that journalism should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted and I think that applies to theatre too. In The Reckoning, we’re using all our theatrical tools – sound, light, movement, verbatim text, fictional framing, and of course, food – to achieve that: to offer a space where people can feel deeply, be challenged, and also leave with something real to hold onto.
Food For Thought will take place immediately after each performance and is included in the ticket price. Can you tell us what this, who will be involved and what you are hoping this will add to the evening?
The Reckoning brings to the stage verbatim documentary text alongside fiction. Anastasiia and I have worked closely with the people who have given us the honour of telling their stories, and have found ways to create what we believe is a compelling dramatic narrative with them. At Dash Arts, we’ve always run a series of conversations with artists, academics, journalism thinkers alongside our productions, to extend the reach and widen the context for our artistic work. We thought that we’d try to bring these conversations into the world of our production. At the end of each show, the fourth wall will slip a little and our journalist will invite a (planned!) guest speaker, who is in the audience to the stage for her very last interview of the performance. The speaker will be an investigative journalist, lawyer, writer, cook, aid volunteer, activist – someone with lived experience of, and involvement with, the conflict. The full list can be found here. I hope it will expand the experience of the play rather than interrupt or overshadow it. The Reckoning is a drama – it’s theatrical, emotional, human – but it’s also rooted in real life, in real people’s testimonies. The Food For Thought conversation at the end is a gentle extension of that: a reminder that these stories don’t just live on stage, they continue out there in the world.
By inviting a guest – someone whose work or life is connected to the themes of the show – we hope to deepen the audience’s understanding without overloading them. It’s not about delivering a lecture. It’s about making space for reflection and offering a few simple ways people might want to stay connected or get involved if they feel moved to. That could be anything from following the work of a frontline journalist to supporting humanitarian efforts or just continuing to talk about what they’ve seen.
Crucially, I don’t want Food For Thought to break the spell of the play, but rather to carry it forward. It’s a way of honouring the truth behind the drama and giving the audience a way to take some of that truth with them as they leave the theatre.
Thanks very much to Josephine for telling us about this important new production. The Reckoning runs at Arcola Theatre from Thursday 29 May – Wednesday 28 June.
Further information and booking details can be found here.
