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One Summer in Luka

2023, the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Memories of a summer spent there compel Nikki to drive back with an aid convoy, hoping to find friends from 1993.

Luka, Sumy Oblast, north-east Ukraine, 1993. Vanya and Misha, two childhood friends then in their twenties, are hosting a group of Westerners on exchange. When they both fall in love with the same woman, their friendship is tested to the limit. Slowly the underlying theme emerges: issues of identity, (Russian/Ukrainian) seemingly unimportant at the time.

In Viv Groskop's new play, we move between the emotional events of that summer of 1993 and the political events of 2022, the outbreak of war, and 2023, the anniversary of war, as Nikki - who lived with Vanya’s family as an exchange student in 1993 - tries to trace her two friends thirty years on and find out what has become of them and if they are safe.

Nikki ..... Emma Fielding
Sarah ..... Jane Slavin
Raisa ..... Barbara Flynn
Vanya ..... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Misha ..... Tom Glenister
Darya ..... Viv Groskop

Producer/Director: Eoin O’Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production

Available now

1 hour, 24 minutes

Last on

Sun 11 Jun 2023 19:30

Music Played

  • Eric Coates

    The Dam Busters

    Orchestra: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Philharmonic. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • CHANDOS.

Broadcast

  • Sun 11 Jun 2023 19:30