Description
158 Ways to Keep Warm – a documentary black tragicomedy about the winter of war in Kyiv 2025‑2026. “Cold is frightening because it is invisible. Missile, drone, fire and explosion are visible dangers. Cold is everywhere and nowhere.” – Iryna Serebriakova, Helsinki 98 brings to the stage Ukrainian playwright Iryna Serebriakova’s new play 158 Ways to Keep Warm (2026). The documentary work is a black tragicomedy of Kyiv’s war winter 2025‑2026: life in a city where attacks on electricity and heating infrastructure, blackouts and frost turn homes into unpredictable places. 158 Ways to Keep Warm gathers stories, survival tactics, memories, news, conversations and dark humor from Kyiv residents, forming a painful, intelligent and merciless picture of people trying to continue life amid war. What to do when heating disappears and the indoor temperature drops to nine degrees? Or even below freezing? When electricity returns for a moment only to cut out again as the next air strike begins? The play shows how life in a megacity changes when water, electricity, heating and internet can no longer be taken for granted. Besides cold, it deals with humiliation, injustice, loneliness, job loss and the impossibility of planning even a week ahead. Yet people keep experimenting, seeking an exit from a situation that seems inescapable. “My husband praised me. He said I’m like a hair‑dryer. I heat. I don’t like that analogy. I want to be a microwave. I told him that. He still claims I’m a hair‑dryer because a hair‑dryer heats the head, while a microwave kills if you stick your head in it.” – 158 Ways to Keep Warm. Iryna Serebriakova (b. 1988) is a Ukrainian playwright whose works have been performed widely across Europe since 24 Feb 2022, both as reading theatre and stage productions. The play was commissioned by Helsinki 98 and is the second Ukrainian documentary drama they have produced (the first was Serebriakova’s Men in Daylight (2025)). Helsinki 98, founded in 2023, explores “What can art be after 24 Feb 2022?” Their 80‑seat venue in Vuosaaren Tilajakamö has produced eleven stage works in three years, attracting over 10 000 spectators. World premiere at Helsinki 98’s stage in Vuosaaren Tilajakamö on Monday 7 Dec 2026 at 19:00. The playwright will attend the preview and a post‑show discussion. The project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture’s grant for mitigating the impact of international crises on art and culture, the City of Helsinki and the Oscar Öflund Foundation. Production team: Writer – Iryna Serebriakova; Translator – Director and Martti‑Tapio Kuuskoski; Direction, production – Director; Actors – Niina Hosiaisluoma, Maksim Pavlenko, Senja Rajalin; Set, lighting, video, poster – Pavel Semchenko; Sound design – Samuli Kivelä; Costume, makeup, props – Anis Kronidova; Choreography – Nina Bulgakova; Production & marketing – HELSINKI 98. Approx. length 1 h 20 min. Recommended for ages 15+. Director wishes to remain anonymous because of the Russian war. Directions to Vuosaaren Tilajakamö (Vuosaarentie 7): Metro – Vuosaaren stop, walk left from the Columbus exit toward the main entrance of Vuotalo; opposite is the former Vuosaaren high school, now the Tilajakamö. The walk takes about 3 minutes. By car – parking at Vuosaarentie 7. We reserve the right to make changes.