Description
158 Ways to Keep Warm – a documentary black tragicomedy about the winter of war in Kyiv 2025‑2026. “Cold is scary because it is invisible. Missiles, drones, fire and explosions 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 about Kyiv’s war winter 2025‑2026: life in a city where attacks on electricity and heating infrastructure, blackouts and frost make home an unpredictable place. 158 Ways to Keep Warm gathers stories, survival tactics, memories, news, conversations and black humour from people living in Kyiv. They form a painful, intelligent and ruthless picture of people trying to continue their lives amid war. What to do when heating disappears and the house is only nine degrees? Or even freezing. And when electricity returns for a moment just to cut out again as the next air attack begins? The play shows how life in a big city changes when water, electricity, heating and internet can no longer be taken for granted. Besides the cold, it deals with humiliation, injustice, loneliness, job loss and the impossibility of planning even a week ahead. Yet people keep experimenting, looking for an exit from a situation that has no exit. “My husband praised me. He said I’m like a hair‑dryer. I heat. I don’t like that comparison. I want to be a microwave. I told him that. But 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 (born 1988) is a Ukrainian playwright. Her works have been performed widely across Europe since 24 Feb 2022, both as reading theatre and stage productions. 158 Ways to Keep Warm was commissioned by Helsinki 98 and is the second Ukrainian documentary drama production by the theatre. The first was Serebriakova’s play Men in Daylight (2025), about Ukrainian men who could not or would not go to war. Helsinki 98 wants to convey the experience of Kyiv’s winter 2025‑2026: cold, fear, absurdity and human resilience. Helsinki 98, founded in 2023, explores the question “What can art be after 24 Feb 2022?” In its 80‑seat venue Vuosaaren Tilajakamossa the theatre has produced eleven stage works in three years, attracting over 10 000 spectators. World premiere on the Helsinki 98 stage at Vuosaaren Tilajakamossa on Monday 7 Dec 2026 at 19:00. 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 Öflundin Foundation. CREW: Writer Iryna Serebriakova; Translation, direction and production: Martti‑Tapio Kuuskoski; Direction: Niina Hosiaisluoma, Maxim Pavlenko, Senja Rajalin; Set, lighting, video, poster: Pavel Semchenko; Sound design: Samuli Kivelä; Costume, makeup, organizer: Anis Kronidova; Choreography: Nina Bulgakova; Production and marketing: HELSINKI 98. Approx. 1 hour 20 minutes. Recommended for ages 15+. Director wishes to remain anonymous because of the Russian war. Directions to Vuosaaren Tilajakamossa (Vuosaarentie 7): By metro – Vuosaaren stop, walk left from the Columbus exit toward the main entrance of Vuotalo, opposite the former Vuosaaren high school, now the Tilajakamossa. Walk 3 minutes. By car – parking at Vuosaarentie 7. We reserve the right to make changes.