Donbas review – a Ukrainian family fractures on the brink of invasion

<p><strong>Theatre503, London<br></strong>Olga Braga’s award-winning play captures the suffocating tensions of a household as war looms – finding flashes of tenderness amid the rising threat</p><p>Olga Braga’s stark new play, the winner of Theatre503’s international playwriting award, is a grim portrait of war in Ukraine. This smartly wrought and tightly packed production clings to the moments before Russia’s full-scale invasion of the Donbas in 2022, as Braga conjures a bleak microcosm of war in a cramped Ukrainian home.</p><p>Every element of this sometimes overloaded show works hard, with already high tensions within the household increasing as the external threat of Russian occupation creeps closer. Director Anthony Simpson-Pike makes ambitious use of the small stage in his first show as artistic director, while Niall McKeever’s set feigns simplicity only to rip itself impressively apart when invasion strikes.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/feb/12/donbas-review-theatre503-london-olga-braga">Continue reading...</a>