Ukrainian director overcomes war draft to stage successful opening night.
Ukrainian director Pavlo Yurov was drafted by the army weeks before the world debut of his play "Silence, Silence, Silence, Please," which tackles Russia's war in Ukraine. Yurov, who is now a press officer attached to a brigade preparing to participate in a counteroffensive, had no choice but to stay in Ukraine while his actors performed in Portugal. The play draws from real-life experiences of Ukrainians living under constant shelling and enduring Russian occupation, and Yurov wanted the audience to feel the psychological toll of being exposed to constant artillery fire and of inhabiting life in survival mode.