As part of the Tête‑à‑Tête festival, the Cockpit Theatre is offering an unusual, contemplative musical experience in Dreva, built around the unlikely fusion of Slavic folk songs and techniques associated with a ‘sound bath’. The audience are invited to close their eyes to fully absorb haunting vocal textures, shifting harmonies, and musical vibrations from a series of gongs, bowls, and other unusual instruments.
Although the lights are dimmed, the stage remains softly lit, dominated by a large LED screen with a constantly whirling mandala that provides a hypnotic visual counterpoint to the music. There is a brief spoken introduction and epilogue, but the remaining sixty minutes unfold as a pure sound performance, an immersive, meditative exploration of ululating Slavic folk singing and the resonant musical accompaniment.
The director and storyteller is Alesia Mankouskaya, accompanied by singer Evelina Schadryna and sound specialist Andrea Kmecova. Their aim is both to maintain Slavic traditions and to create something new – a communal experience that refreshes and relaxes and brings the audience together in the silences between songs.
The musical and vocal elements are highly melodic and verge on the hypnotic. With eyes closed, the experience becomes soporific, particularly during the concluding lullaby, whose soothing rhythm encourages a state of near slumber (or actual slumber for a few members of the audience).
At times, I was reminded of the lilting background music often used in massage therapy, and there was a distinct sense of being in a yoga class about the piece (one person in the front row sat cross-legged throughout). The gentle rhythms, soft vocal lines and meditative tempo create an atmosphere that feels more aligned with restorative practice than traditional theatre, and it does invite the audience into a state of calm.
I did close my eyes for parts of the performance and could feel the enticing tug of tranquillity washing over me. But in fact, Dreva ultimately feels much more compelling as a visual performance piece. Watching the three performers navigate an extraordinary array of instruments is genuinely fascinating. Kmecova commands the large gong, zither and sound bowls, while Mankouskaya and Schadryna move deftly between cymbals, bells, flute, bird‑calling ocarinas and a finger piano, among many other impressive-looking devices. The quiet choreography of picking up the instruments, preparing and layering each sound became its own form of theatre, and I found this more captivating than the intended eyes‑closed sound-therapy immersion.
In a fast-moving world, stopping to slow down and embrace an hour of calm, calming music is no bad thing. But Dreva is much more than the gentle escapism or the sleep-inducing harmonics of a gong bath that the creators intend. Resist the siren call to sleep, watch the fascinating performance as it unfolds ahead of you, and the effect will linger long after the final notes have reverberated away.
Review by Fiona Gilbert
DREVA is an unusual theatre experience in which the audience is asked not to watch, but to close their eyes, and listen: a night-time story, followed by a lullaby. A lullaby for grown-ups.
Enter a journey to the roots of nature, and to the story of the creation of the world as preserved in the folk traditions of the Eastern Slavs. Sound baths have become popular recently, yet the ancient Slavs knew something similar long ago, in lullabies and the meditative sounds of folk tradition, now largely forgotten.
It is a full performance, but a sound performance. It begins with a spoken introduction, explaining what to expect and how to receive it, before the invitation into the meditative folk songs and sounds. Close your eyes, and travel to the very beginning of the world.
Music: Slavic Folk songs
Director and story teller: Alesia Mankouskaya
Singer and folk specialist: Evelina Shchadryna
Sound specialist and pianist: Andrea Kmecova
Artist: Lizaveta Chyrvontsava
Textile Artist: Sasha Belavokaya
DREVA
The Cockpit, 16 September 2026
Presented as part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival 2026
