And people are living. ABDUL
 

"Forgiveness (if such a thing is possible at all) is genuine only when it concerns the unforgivable."

— Jacques Derrida

We invite you to encounter stories of hope, dignity, and an almost incomprehensible humanity.

Their setting is Chechnya during the 1990s: the period of two wars, the fragile hope that emerged between them, and the dictator-controlled peace that followed. Yet the geographical location and political context gradually lose their significance when confronted with the extraordinary dignity—or extraordinary degradation—revealed in individual human lives.

An unspoken question remains: can such resilience and such a profound will to survive, to live, and to remain connected to others exist anywhere in the world outside the experience of war?

The script is based on accounts and testimonies of direct participants and witnesses to these events—residents of Chechnya (whose names, particularly those who chose not to emigrate, remain undisclosed for their own safety)—as well as on the work of journalists Åsne Seierstad, Krystyna Kurczab-Redlich, Petra Procházková, Irena Brežná, and Anna Politkovskaya.

Text and adaptation: David Zelinka

Performed by: Dominika Grenda / Eliza Paś, David Zelinka

Directed by: David Zelinka

Premiere:

17 June 2018 (Czech version)

21 July 2018 (Polish version)

"Teď nádech a leť Theatre has created a world where guilt and justice, injustice and mercy, anger and forgiveness, compassion for both victims and perpetrators of violence, and compassion 'for humanity itself' (to borrow Jacqueline de Romilly's words) are explored—and not for a single moment does it sound false or sentimental."

—from a review by Magdalena Hasiuk

The production was supported by a grant from the Nadace Život umělce. We gratefully acknowledge its support.