At Jam Factory Art Center, on April 24 and 25 at 19:00, the premiere of Maria Bakalo’s solo performance “Again and Again and How It Will End” will take place — a work that grew out of personal memories and the collective experience of the 1990s. Combining bodily practice, childhood imagery, and reflections on war, trust, and vulnerability, the performance explores how to live and what to speak about in times of instability and global threats.
About the performance
In her solo performance “Again and Again and How It Will End,” Maria Bakalo interacts on stage with a white sphere, dances, and constructs from various elements an image that is at once death, savior, and the Virgin Mary, while recalling her childhood. She tells the story of how, in the 1990s in Simferopol, she used to go to work with her mother at a military base.
Maria’s children are also present in the space — they have come to their mother’s workplace because there is no one to leave them with. They play video games, get bored, do puzzles, and interrupt the work.
The artist reflects: what is there to talk about on the threshold of a nuclear catastrophe, if not love? childhood? memories?
An inflated ball — a fitness ball — becomes an image embodying the core of danger. In interaction with this ideal yet unstable object, the performer’s body learns to remain in uncomfortable, vulnerable positions. Maria balances, takes a stance of resistance, and at times capitulates to the impossibility of finding stability.
Referring to the history of Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament, Maria reflects on trust and betrayal, and on the value of a great act in the name of a higher idea — peace? loyalty to the state / international alliances? defense of shared values? Despite the urgent need for armed defense of the country, the artist considers whether giving up nuclear weapons could potentially be a step toward the future. In Ukraine’s case, was it a “choice in favor of life”? Does it now seem naive, misguided, shortsighted?
Digging into historical events and personal memories of the 1990s leads the performer to a painfully familiar experience: Ukrainians who lived in temporarily occupied territories did not betray their country, often at the cost of their own safety, yet after relocating to government-controlled areas, they face accusations of separatism. The state’s responsibility toward the “ordinary person,” the citizen, becomes blurred. Guarantees of safety and legitimacy are unstable. Repeated narratives about a “separatist Crimea” come at a high personal cost.
Balancing between the global threat of humanity’s destruction and the urgent routine of everyday life, Maria Bakalo places simple acts alongside major questions of security policy: caring for loved ones, doing puzzles, going to work, and the possibility of being together in a theatre.
Details
Date & time: Premiere shows on April 24–25, 2026, 19:00
Location: Jam Factory Art Center, 124 B. Khmelnytskoho St., Novo1 Hall
Tickets: 350 UAH. Available via the link.
Team
Author, performer – Maria Bakalo
Composer – Mariana Klochko
Artist – Jan Bachynskyi
Projection – Yelyzaveta Postol
Production manager – Vlad Bilonenko
Maria Bakalo’s children — Tereza and Orest, or one of them — are often, though not always, present in the performance space.
Photos from rehearsal
