Культура України (Jun 2024)
Executed light. Actor Stepan Shahaida as a victim of Stalinist terror
Abstract
The article examines the life and work of one of the leading Ukrainian theater and film actors Stepan Shahaida (1896–1938) in the discourses of the Cultural Renaissance of Ukraine in the 1920s and the historical trauma caused under the conditions of the Bolshevik terror. The Ukrainian Renaissance — an important phenomenon of the XX century — became possible thanks to the NEP, Ukrainianization and some autonomization in the economic and cultural life of the Ukrainian SSR. Stepan Shahaida — one of the most famous actors of that time — made his contribution to the achievements of theatrical art, which gained its national uniqueness thanks to the efforts of the director, a proponent of Europeanization, Les Kurbas. As his student and associate in the famous “Berezil” theater (Kyiv, Kharkiv), Shahaida played the main roles in the plays “The fooled ones” by Marko Kropyvnytskyi, “Commune in the steppes” by Mykola Kulish, “Jacquerie” by Prosper Merimee, “The Golden Belly” by Fernand Krommenlink, “The King is playing” by Victor Hugo. After starring in the film “The Man from the Forest” by Heorhii Stabovyi, he transferred to the Odesa Film Factory, where he successfully embodied the image of the Cossack Chapyra in “Pearl of Semiramis” also directed by H. Stabovyi. During ten years, he played in many films, including: “Five Brides” by Oleksandr Soloviov, “The Museum Guard” by Borys Tiahno, “Perekop” by Ivan Kavaleridze, “Karmeliuk” by Faust Lopatynskyi, “Ivan”, “Aerograd” by Oleksandr Dovzhenko, “Rich bride” by Ivan Pyriev. The actor is characterized by high professionalism and humanity. Stepan Shahaida, like many conscious Ukrainians, took part in the Liberation War for the Ukrainian sovereignty. He was arrested and shot on January 20, 1938 in the cells of the NKVD, becoming an innocent victim of Stalinist repressions.
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