
Sashko Bilozub
set designer, costume designer, actor and director of theatre and cinema
In 2020, Sashko Bilozub curated the Autumn School of Scenography at the National Union of Theatre Workers of Ukraine. According to the artist: ‘Scenography is magic. You have to understand this, it's not a metaphor, it's a reality. The theatre exists without daylight, it is pitch black. And out of this darkness you have to create the whole world. Scenography is something that has to emerge from the darkness and disappear into the darkness. This is real alchemy.’
He was born on 18 August 1961 in the village of Stovpyahy, Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi district, Kyiv region.
Artworks
Biography
Education:
Graduated from the Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design in 1979.
From 1986 to 1989, he studied at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, Department of Directing and Acting, Tchaikovsky Theatre.
In 1989, he began working in Ukrainian theatres as a production designer:
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Lviv Academic Spiritual Theatre ‘Voskresennya’
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Sumy Regional Academic Theatre of Drama and Musical Comedy named after M. S. Shchepkin
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Mykolaiv Drama Theatre
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Arabesque Theatre in Kharkiv - joint projects with the rock band Mertvy Piven
Director and actor of the one-man shows I'm Laughing at Myself Today, dedicated to Oleksandr Vertinsky, and A Song for Three Beats about Charlie Chaplin, which he performed in Israel in 1993-1994.
1997-2001 - worked with director Andriy Zholdak in many theatres in Ukraine and Europe as an actor and artist. He was an actor and costume designer in the play Carmen by P. Mérimée, The Marriage based on the libretto by Zholdak (Cherkasy Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre named after Taras Shevchenko).
2002-2015 - worked at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre as a director, production designer and actor.
Since 2002, he has been working as a production designer with the Ukrainian-Hungarian director Attila Vidniansky in theatres in Hungary.
Since 2016, he has been a production designer, and from 2019 to 2023, he was the chief artist of the Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theatre.
Performances:
Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre, Kyiv: director, costume designer for Two Indigo Flowers (2009), director, costume designer for Samuel Beckett's The Last Record of Crapp (2010), director, set designer, costume designer for How Not to Love You, My Kyiv (2012)
Kyiv Academic Drama Theatre on Podil: director, costume designer for the play At My Window (2019)
Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theatre: production designer of the operetta Countess Maritza, libretto by Yana Ivanitska (based on works by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grunwald), production director Bohdan Strutynskyi, production conductor Sviatoslav Lytvynenko, choreographer Vadym Prokopenko, choreographer Ihor Yaroshenko, costume designer Iryna Davydenko (2016), the performance received the Best Musical Award at the Kyiv Pectoral Theatre Award 2016;
production designer of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, libretto by Joseph Stein, Sheldon Garnick, production director Bohdan Strutynskyi, production conductor Ihor Yaroshenko, choreographer Vadym Prokopenko, costume designer Iryna Davydenko (2018), the performance won the 2018 HRA All-Ukrainian Theatre Festival and Award in the Best Musical Performance nomination;
production designer of the ballet ‘Mozart Underground...’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, stage director, choreographer Vadym Prokopenko, conductor Vladimir Vrublevsky, costume designer Olga Levchenko (2016);
stage director, author of the scenic design, costume designer of the operetta The Accompanist by Mitu Marcel (2016);
production designer of the operetta Bayadera by Julius Brammer, Alfred Grunwald, Imre Kalman, production director, stage director Bohdan Strutynskyi, production conductor Ihor Yaroshenko, choreographer Vadym Prokopenko, choreographer Serhii Nesteruk, costume designer Ivan Davydenko (2019);
stage director, set designer, costume designer of the one-man show Georg Ots, music director Serhiy Didok, lyricist Dmytro Sharaburin (2019);
director, scenic designer, costume designer of the one-man show Frank Sinatra, by Dmytro Sharaburin (2019)
director, production designer of the operetta ‘Premiere. A Broadway Story’ by John Cromwell (2020)
production designer of the musical Dorian Gray, artistic director of the production Bohdan Strutynskyi, direction and choreography by Vadym Prokopenko, conductor-director Serhii Didok, chorus master Igor Yaroshenko, costume designer Aliya Baitenova (2021);
production designer of the operetta Tigrolovy based on the novel by Ivan Bahrianyi, director Serhii Pavliuk, conductor Serhii Didok, choirmaster Maksym Kovalchuk, librettists Kyrylo Bezkorovainyi and Anton Humaniuk, composers Kyrylo Bezkorovainyi, Anton Humaniuk, Bohdan Reshetilov (2023);
Düla Castle Theatre, Hungary: artist of the performance ‘The Son Who Turned into a Stag’ by József Ferenc, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2003)
Chokonai Theatre, Hungary: artist for The Tragedy of Man, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2012), The Man with Wings, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2010), Zoltán Kodály's Hari János, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2011) Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2009), As You Like It by William Shakespeare, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2009)
Open Air Theatre, Szeged, Hungary: artist of the performance ‘The Tragedy of Man’ by Madama, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2011)
The National Theatre, Budapest, Hungary. Budapest, Hungary: Artistic Director of The Tragedy of Man, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2018), Vitez lelek by Tamás Aron, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2013), Rocco and His Brothers by Lucino Visconti, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2019), Joan of Arc at the Bonfire by Paul Claudel, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2013), Bank Ban by Erkel Ferenc, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2017), Black Sky. White Cloud’ by Molnár Ferenc, directed by Attila Widnányi (2014), “Don Quixote” by Verebes Ernős, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2015), “Thirteen Apples” by Albert Vásályi, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2015), “The Scourge of God”, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2015)
Hungarian National Opera, Budapest, Hungary: artist for The Story of a Soldier, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2013), Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2005-2006), Lajos Janacek's Enuf, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2004), Giuseppe Verdi's La forza del Destino, directed by Attila Vidniansky (2006)
Lviv National Opera: director, artist of the performance ‘The Legend of Eternal Life’ by Ivan Franko; ethnic band KURBASY (2019). The costumes have original paintings by iconographer Ostap Lozynskyi
Kyiv Modern Ballet Academic Theatre: scenographer of the one-act ballet Discrimination to music by George Handel and Valentyn Silvestrov with the financial support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. Libretto, choreography, production design by Radu Poklitaru, costume designer Dmytro Kuryata, premiered on 21 October 2023
Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Drama Theatre, Kyiv: set and costume design by Lucino Visconti, production design by Oleksandr Kobzar, composer Oleksandr Kokhanovskyi, plastic design by Olha Goldys. Premiere - 28 March 2025.
Les Kurbas Lviv Academic Theatre: set designer, costume and lighting designer for The Price of Light based on the poetry of Amanda Gorman, directed by Volodymyr Kuchynskyi, choreographed by Anatolii Sachivko,
composer Oles Koval. The performance was created as part of an art project with the support of the US Embassy and with the financial support of the Tallinn City Theatre. Premiere - 28 March 2025.
Participation in projects:
2021 - Lviv Quadriennale of Scenography, Lviv
2020 - Ukrainian pavilion of the Tbilisi Biennale of Scenography, Tbilisi, Georgia
2018 - Personal exhibition of scenographer Oleksandr Bilozub at the Lviv Quadriennale of Scenography: Preview
Exhibitions:
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2024 - Personal exhibition of Sashko Bilozub's scenography at the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine
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2017 - Personal exhibition of scenography ‘Isten Ostora’. Scenography Gallery, Lviv
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2013 - Personal exhibition of scenography. Actor's House, Kyiv
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2012 - Personal exhibition of scenography. Hungarian Theatre Museum, Hungary
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2002 - Personal art exhibition
Awards:
2019 - Hungarian Golden Cross of Merit - the highest rank of the Hungarian Cross of the Arany Érdemkereszt. It is a state award given to a foreigner for his or her contribution to culture, science and other areas of life in Hungary
2015 - Award for the best film ‘A Szarvassa Valtozott Fiu’ (‘The Deer’), Hungarian Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA
2015 - First prize for Best Set and Costume Design, Poszt Theatre Festival, Hungary
2014 - Award for the best production of the year in Hungary for the design of the play ‘Isten Ostora’ (‘Attila / God's Beach’)
2011 - Honoured Artist of Ukraine
2007 - Winner of the Yosyp Hirnyak International Theatre Award
2007 - Gold medal of the Panorama Theatre Festival, Minsk
2006 - Kyiv Pectoral Prize
2002 - Kyiv Pectoral Award
1997 - First prize of the theatre festival of mono-arts ‘Echo’ (actor)