Roman Semisal

Roman Volodymyrovich Semysal - Ukrainian actor, theatrical director, poet. From 1993 to 2009 he worked at the Russian Drama Theater. Lesia Ukrainka in Kiev. The most famous performance for his participation in this theater was the chamber play "Going for the edge", directed by Olga Havrylyuk, about the fate of the Ukrainian poet and dissident Vasyl Stus. It was the first performance using the Ukrainian language in this theater. In this performance, Semisal played a major role, besides being a co-author of the stage composition. The premiere took place in 2006, the performance received mixed reviews, both positive and negative. Former dissident Vasyl Ovsiyenko called it "theatrical caricature of Stus," because of the discrepancy between Stus's image taken out in the play, the image of the real Stus, as well as the incorrect display of the ordinances prevalent in Soviet prisons. At the same time, Ovsienko acknowledged a number of the merits of the performance in terms of theatrical art.