" the space between the plum trees "
A new play written & created by Kevin Doyle.
Researched via in-person interviews conducted with Kateryna Shelipova in Chupakhivka, Ukraine in April 2024. Based upon transcripts from the first war crimes trial held in Kyiv during May-July 2022 of Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin for the murder of Kateryna's husband, Oleksandr Shelipov -- a retired veteran of the Soviet Army.
Premiere info TBA in 2025.
“the space between the plum trees” is a phrase I first heard during an ITV News report broadcast from Ukraine in May 2022. The phrase was spoken by an elderly woman, Kateryna Shelipova, who was describing the precise location where she found the dead body of her husband, Oleksandr Shelipov.
Oleksandr Shelipov was shot in the head by a 21-year-old Russian soldier, Vadim Shishimarin, as he fled with other Russian soldiers through the village of Chupakhivka, where Kateryna and Oleksandr had lived as retired pensioners. In a grotesque coincidence, Oleksandr was himself a decorated veteran of the Soviet Army; who rose through the ranks to join a bodyguard detail serving former Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev. For all his years of service and impeccable record — here was Oleksandr lying dead between two plum trees he and his wife had planted together in their front yard; murdered decades later by a Russian solider who decades earlier could have been a comrade.
As Kateryna stood on camera for the ITV reporter, pointing at the empty ground where her late husband once lay — I was struck by her phrase — struck by the space she was pointing towards, that empty space between the two plum trees. I contemplated what this space represents — the inherent contradiction and irony; the emptiness and horror contained within the space Kateryna was pointing at.
It is a space created by decades of unchecked disinformation with no remaining counterweights left to guard against it; due to the growing tide of compression and consolidation across the media, the arts, and humanities. The space between the plum trees represents a gap — a widening gap between those of us who still possess the time (due to income or education) to adequately digest “long-forms” of journalism, books, and the arts that require “deep reading” or “deep viewing” — and those of us who only possess an attention span of milliseconds as a result of our daily, never-ending poor diet of social media, streaming services, and smartphone apps.
The space between the plum trees which Kateryna gestured to is not merely the location where her late husband was found. Kateryna was pointing to the space where our cultures and societies are headed if we cannot come to terms with how we have all been transformed as a result of media compression and arts consolidation.
In my plays, I attempt to develop new dramatic structures to urgently address this widening gap.
"the space between the plum trees" is a simple play.
Two men walk onstage and sit in two chairs. An equal distance apart, each facing the audience in their own way. One man is elderly. He represents the murdered Ukrainian citizen, Oleksandr Shelipov. The other man is much younger, barely in his twenties. He represents imprisoned Russian soldier, Vadim Shishimarin -- who was found guilty of murdering Shelipov during the first war crimes trial held in Kyiv during the Summer of 2022.
Nothing happens in this simple play.
Both men remain seated for nearly the entire duration. Each man take turns speaking to the audience; recounting key moments and memories in their lives. Oleksandr Shelipov starts at the beginning of his life, from the moment he was born; then onwards through his childhood, teenage years, married life, military service, and retirement -- until he arrives at the moment in February 2022 outside his home where he encountered Russian soldiers driving through his village in a stolen car. For his part, Vadim Shishimarin starts in the present time, then works his way backwards. He recounts details of daily life in a Ukrainian prison, serving his sentence for murder; working his way backwards in time through his trial, then further to his moment of capture. Shishimarin finally arrives at the precise moment in February 2022, riding in the backseat of a stolen car with several other Russian soldiers, as he passes by the home of Oleksandr Shelipov and Kateryna Shelipova.
Oleksandr Shelipov and Vadim Shishimarin meet once again on stage in the space between the plum trees. They turn to face each other, and they speak with each other as they tend to the plum tree saplings growing on stage. When they are finished tending to the plum trees, they switch seats and return to each other's chairs -- to resume alternating turns speaking to the audience directly.
Oleksandr Shelipov speaks from the place where he is now -- deceased. Oleksandr speaks of the things in his life that he wishes he could have completed, his longing to see what will become of his beloved widow and all the necessary chores left unfinished around their family home. Oleksandr speaks of the new place where he is now. He describes a place that awaits us all.
Shishimarin resumes his journey backwards through his own time -- recounting all the details of his life that transpired prior to joining the Russian Army. He speaks of his own murdered step-father; shot in the head by Russian mobsters in a manner eerily reminiscent of how he himself shot Oleksandr. He speaks of his mother and sisters. He speaks of growing up in Putin's Russia, and recounts all the details of his childhood. Finally arriving to the moments of his birth and the place where he was before -- a place where we all come from.
Each man alternates with his turns, speaking to the audience -- until neither man can go any further. Once Shishimarin can no longer describe the place where he was before -- and once Shelipov runs out of words to describe the place where he is now -- the play ends. Then, both men simply rise and depart the stage -- leaving the audience with film projected at the rear of the stage -- a film of the two actual plum trees blowing in the spring winds.
Photos of Kevin Doyle together with Kateryna Shelipova and her family are courtesy of photographer Chris Klawitter. iPhone video of Kateryna Shelipova is also courtesy of Chris Klawitter.
All other photos are Copyright © 2024 Kevin Doyle.
With eternal gratitude to German citizen, Chris Klawitter, for agreeing to drive the author across Ukraine under hazardous conditions, and for his assistance in making a successful weekend of filmed interviews possible.
"the space between the plum trees" is Copyright © 2024 Kevin Doyle.