Director and set designer Diana Budiachenko is a lover of creating abstraction and fantasy through her theatre productions, so it makes sense that she was excited to take on Queen Maeve. Theatre Inconnu’s production of Governor General Award winner Judith Thompson’s play is a perfect fit for Budiachenko.
“When I read it for the first time, I felt that it is very much my kind of text; it is dark in a way, sarcastic, hilarious, and it’s a perfect balance between reality and a completely different world,” says Budiachenko.
Working on this show really provided Budiachenko—who has a master’s degree in theatre directing from Ukraine—the chance to delve into the fantasy-like otherworld of the main character’s alter ego.
“It’s about a woman in a nursery home. It’s about her relationships with her caregiver, whom she happens to like; her daughter, whom she can’t forgive her past mistakes; and her grandson,” says Budiachenko. “She has dementia, and when she is triggered, she transforms into powerful Queen Maeve.”
Budiachenko previously worked on a similar theatre show, Yaga, about an eastern European witch.
“This reminds me a little bit of the Ukrainian Yaga, in terms of [being] very powerful, and intimidating at times,” she says.
Budiachenko says that, to her, the main theme of Queen Maeve is forgiveness.
“Usually when you’re in a difficult situation like this, you have two choices,” she says. “You can either forgive and work on it, or you take a different route and you accuse that person.”
The ordinary-woman-turned-warrior-queen has a pain-stricken and emotionally strained relationship with her daughter, which Budiachenko notes is a staple of Thompson’s work.
“Judith Thompson is famous for somewhat dark scripts with complicated characters,” she says. “I think this [play] is classic Judith Thompson.”
As a director, Budiachenko is inclined towards artistic representations of reality, rather than re-creating reality as we know it. (This will be Budiachenko’s first experience working with Theatre Inconnu, and her third production in Victoria.)
“Theatre, at least in the UK and Europe, is inclined towards the abstract,” she says. “We were taught not to copy reality, but to create the environment in which your audience can immerse.”
This belief is based in creating an immersive experience for the audience that captures their imaginations.
“I think it’s true for all the forms of art—it’s the same as painting,” says Budiachenko. “[Theatre] kind of takes you away from everything. Any form of art fulfills you in a way that nothing could replace.”
Budiachenko says that rather than talking to a set designer and possibly having conflicting ideas or miscommunications, it’s easier for some directors to imagine themselves where they would put their actors, how they will move, and how their set will cooperate with their vision.
“My mentor was a set designer and director, so most of the time, when we discussed place—or what we were going to stage— we had to come up with the set design,” she says. “It was part of our training.”
Time was the main challenge for Budiachenko in putting the show together; the timeframe for staging a production here is around two months, with around three or four rehearsals per week.
“In the Ukraine, I had a lot more time to stage a production than here. I’m still adjusting to the new reality of how it works,” she says. “I’m trying to adapt to what it’s like to stage here within the frames and limitations I’m given.”
Budiachenko is excited to bring Thompson’s fantastical narrative to the stage and to the hearts of the audience.
“For me, theatre is a miracle,” says Budiachenko. “When you get immersed in a very different atmosphere, and you feel that miracle is happening, that’s a good theatre to me.”
Queen Maeve
Various times, Wednesday, February 19 to Saturday, March 8
$12 student tickets, Theatre Inconnu
(1923 Fernwood Road)
theatreinconnu.com