the bay of bengal in recent years. in bangladesh hundreds of thousands of people were forced to take shelter. now on bbc news playing for ukraine. for over a month, we have been following a group of ukrainian refugees, all of them prominent actors and directors in their home country. actors and directors in their home count . a . ~ actors and directors in their home count . 1, . ~ ~ ., country. back in ukraine, iwas connected country. back in ukraine, iwas connected with country. back in ukraine, iwas connected with the country. back in ukraine, iwas connected with the theatre. . country. back in ukraine, i was. connected with the theatre. they faced unprecedented challenges fleeing their country to seek sanctuary overseas. i fleeing their country to seek sanctuary overseas.- fleeing their country to seek sanctuary overseas. i do find it hard because sanctuary overseas. i do find it hard because i sanctuary overseas. i do find it hard because i am sanctuary over
and have here some icons, so it s orthodox symbols. of maria, mother with son, and jesus christ. so the pair of them, it was traditional thing in every ukrainian home. there is small scene about how communist government came and they take they took it. so it was real story. and they took things like this and just destroyed them, mostly. i can show you some one more crazy thing. it s this piece of history. but our custom designer, yulia, she found it. it s really crazy thing.
back to the professional theatre, many for the first time. many for the first time. with a final rehearsal many for the first time. with a final rehearsal today many for the first time. with a | final rehearsal today afternoon many for the first time. with a - final rehearsal today afternoon and then tonight it is sold out. after then tonight it is sold out. after fleein: then tonight it is sold out. after fleeing the then tonight it is sold out. after fleeing the violence then tonight it is sold out. after fleeing the violence of - then tonight it is sold out. after fleeing the violence of war, - then tonight it is sold out. after fleeing the violence of war, this group of actors have been brought together to put on maria, a plate like no other. it s day one of rehearsals and the actors are greeted by a welcome circle with staff from the unity theatre. their home for the next four weeks. theatre. their home for the next four weeks theatre. their home for the next four weeks.
i m olena, and i play nadia, who is the daughter of maria. i went to university in kharkiv. we did our last performance in student theatre on 23rd of february and then we got home to our students campus, go back to sleep, then i remember 5am my friends were, like, running around the room, picking up clothes and everything. and i was like, what are you doing? and they re, it started. i was like what started? the war s started. russia is accused of killing hundreds of civilians in the ukrainian city of kharkiv. olena had one of the most difficult escapes, being trapped in kharkiv and gripped with a constant worry about her family.
yurii s job is to get the play from the rehearsal room and onto the stage injust four weeks. maria is the story of a woman, and her life was, like, 72 years. and this is story from the birth to the death and how russian occupants break her life like, break ukraine. and this story will be about the hardest page of our history i mean holodomor. the holodomor, literally translated by to kill by hunger was as soviet engineered famine of the 1930s. being the largest grain producer in the soviet union, ukraine was subject to higher grain quotas than other regions, leading to fewer crops for ukrainians, and causing mass starvation