Tom Godwin as The Man from Stoyanka and Marianne Oldham as the Journalist [Ikin Yum]

IT is a measure of Dash Arts’ integrity and ambition that the company has an artist wellbeing coach (Lou Platt), food consultant (Olia Hercules) and testimony advisers Nataliya Gumenyuk and Peter Pomerantsev on board for this thought-provoking show about the war in Ukraine.

Developed from real, sometimes harrowing, witness accounts The Reckoning, by Anastasiia Kosodii and Josephine Burton, is a vivid and powerful drama about conflict, survival and the importance of revisiting and retelling trauma for both reporters and survivors, however painful.

Two Ukrainian actors open proceedings: Sam (Simeon Kyslyi) and Olga (Olga Safronova) introduce themselves and the play.

A journalist (Marianne Oldham) meets a man from Stoyanka (Tom Godwin), a former security guard living with two dogs in a ruined village outside Kyiv.

He recalls the Russians arriving, his own ordeal and terror. Kyslyi and Safronova stand in for several survivors sharing their experiences of the invasion, torture, displacement and loss.

Throughout, vegetables are methodically chopped on stage as the man prepares a Ukrainian summer salad.

Burton’s nimble production is mainly verbatim theatre. The testimonies are drawn from real events and stories recorded by The Reckoning Project; an organisation that collects evidence, ensuring witness accounts are heard in the pursuit of justice for victims of war crimes.

It’s impeccably acted with minimal props – chairs become barricades, dog leads resemble nooses – in Zoë Hurwitz’s imaginative set design.

Some scenes are delivered in Ukrainian, adding a note of authenticity to this intense, poignant evening, softened only by the welcome helping of salad we are given at the end.

This gesture of domesticity reminds us of all that is lost – the ordinary lives upended by war.

Attending The Reckoning feels like an act of solidarity.

Recommended.

Until June 28
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