A Fan of War
by Polina Polozhentseva
26 - 30 August 2025, 7:30 pm
An ironic, sharp-witted, and deeply moving new play exploring what it means to live with war when you’re not at war.
Our protagonist stands at a strange crossroads. Her mother remains in Ukraine, waking each day to the threat of bombs and the courage of survival. Meanwhile, her foreign boyfriend, blissfully indifferent to the world’s chaos, insists on living in the moment – as if the news is just a bad episode of a soap opera he can’t be bothered to watch.
As she navigates daily life in relative safety, each ping of her phone from home stirs panic, guilt, or helplessness. Is it possible to feel joy while others suffer? To laugh and make love while war continues elsewhere?
With wit, intimacy, and heart, A Fan of War tackles the absurdity of modern war’s reach: how it shapes our relationships, interrupts our pleasures, and tugs relentlessly at our conscience.
Written by the acclaimed Ukrainian playwright Polina Polozhentseva and directed by Anastazie Toros, this new production stars Bogdana Kalantay and Nathan Trochet.
Dedicated to Ukraine’s Independence Day, it offers a timely reflection on grief, love, identity, and the emotional dissonance of living in one world while another burns.
“There’s something haunting about experiencing war from a distance. The loneliness, the guilt, the fear of saying too much — or not enough — lives quietly in many of us. A Fan of War dares to name it. Let’s talk about it.”
