There is a particular gravity to a performance that started not in a rehearsal room but in a public square. In December 2013, Dakh Daughters took the stage at Maidan Square in Kyiv as pro-democracy protests reshaped Ukraine’s political future — seven actress-musicians, faces painted white in the group’s signature freak cabaret style, playing into a crisis that would come to define the country. The music video for “Roses / Donbass” would follow, going viral as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. The ensemble that arrives at Kingston Grand Theatre on Thursday, April 8 has been carrying that weight for more than a decade, and has turned it, somehow, into what they describe as “a space of enormous love.”
About the Show
Ukraine Fire is described as “a visceral and poetic stage performance” blending live music, freak cabaret, and multimedia storytelling. The New York Times wrote of the ensemble that they bring “equal parts musical and theatrical chops”; Rolling Stone placed them as emerging “from an Edward Gorey cartoon,” with harmonies that warrant the description. The Georgia Straight called them “not just a seven-piece band, but a theatrical collective” combining “music and theatre in equal parts in highly original performances that are sonically and visually dynamic.” The Guardian called their work “genuinely original.”
All seven performers trained as actresses at Kyiv’s experimental DAKH Theatre before the group formed in 2012 under director Vladyslav Troitskyi, who also leads DakhaBrakha. In performance, they play cello, double bass, violin, flute, accordion, guitar, and drums, switching instruments as the show moves, while setting texts by Shakespeare, Shevchenko, Brodsky, Bukowski, and Brecht to original compositions. Projected video footage and surtitled translations accompany the performance. In November 2025, France awarded the ensemble the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, presented by the French Ambassador to Ukraine. Previous North American touring in 2019–2020 included stops in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Berkeley, and New York; Thursday’s Kingston show falls within a run of upcoming performances that also includes a stop at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris.
Venue & Logistics
Kingston Grand Theatre, at 218 Princess Street in Kingston, Ontario, presents Ukraine Fire through its Grand OnStage series — a program that brings international work to north country audiences. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets
Ukraine Fire is a Pay What You Want performance. Buy tickets through the Kingston Grand Theatre box office.