16 June
"Run For Your Wife". A friend takes me to the theatre to see a play set in London called "The Very Married Taxi Driver". It turns out to be a rollicking farce performed in Russian by a troupe of actors from Odessa, and is very funny - the large audience is almost literally rolling in the aisles. A search on Google later reveals it to be a play called "Run For Your Wife", which enjoyed a good run in the West End of London in the 1980s. I'm delighted to find a British play entertaining so many people, though slightly alarmed that anyone might think what we are seeing in any way reflects life in the UK. The theatre, like many buildings in Kyiv, reflects Ukraine's turbulent history. Built as a "Seminary for Young Ladies" before the 1917 Revolution, it has since undergone many uses and many name changes - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Palace,_Kiev. Although its official title is now the International Centre of Culture and Arts, I notice several people using its pre-1991 Soviet name - the October Palace.