Cachés: clé à Dalí

Chimeras of our minds will be exposed! 

“It is very interesting, instead of 'copying history', to anticipate it and let it try to imitate as best it can what you have invented.”

– Author's Foreword, Hidden Faces by Salvador Dalí

Cachés: clé à Dalí is an immersive, interactive, site-specific, surrealist theatre production inspired by Salvador Dalí’s only novel Hidden Faces.

Count Hervé de Grandsailles is sure that the war with Germany is inevitable, nonetheless, he decides to throw a dinner party at his estate at Creux de Libreux, just a few days after the riot on Place de la Concorde in Paris. His house is full of prominent figures of the time, but the Count's mind is elsewhere until the most important and long-awaited guest arrives - Madame Solange de Cléda.

We observe a series of rendezvous against the backdrop of pre-war Europe. From the agony and cledalism of the first couple, we transition to the beach of Cadaqués, where, in August 1929, Salvador Dalí and Gala first met. We move together with the second couple to Paris and experience Dalí's Golden Age by witnessing his entrance into the surrealist circle, the creation of his masterpieces, his relationship with Gala, and their extravagant, exuberant life.

In 1939, the Dalís invite us to one of their whimsical surrealist parties, but the fun is interrupted by the arrival of the darkest and most cruel creature of the 20th century…

Our Story

On 23 February 2022, the original Ukrainian team gathered in Kyiv for a photoshoot at the Chocolate House, the venue where Cachés: clé à Dalí was due to premiere on 29 March. They scheduled a rehearsal of a scene called The Face of War (inspired by Salvador Dalí's painting of the same name) for the following morning, only to discover that the real war had interrupted their plans. 

The rehearsal never took place due to russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The premiere never happened. But the project survived.

Cachés: clé à Dalí had been living in the world of the imminence of war long before it became reality. Salvador Dalí's novel is prophetic. So, it turns out, was this production.

In autumn 2022, Anastasiya Yevchenko brought Cachés: clé à Dalí to London as a participant in the Artists at Risk cultural residency programme at Glass Half Full Productions, supported by the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund and the UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals. 

In December 2023, a workshop and reading was held in London, supported by NYU London, with guests from leading theatre companies, NYU professors, Ukrainian diplomats and artists.

In 2024, Anastasiya was awarded a Developing Your Creative Practice bursary from Arts Council England to develop the show's commercial structure, business model and dramaturgy.

Anastasiya is currently a participant in the Stage One Bridge the Gap Producer Programme 2025-2026, using Cachés: clé à Dalí as a case study.

The R&D at Kingswood House in May 2026 is the next step: a proof of concept to bring Cachés: clé à Dalí to the London stage.

The project’s ultimate goal is the first Ukrainian-British long-running commercial show in London, with touring opportunities in EU countries and a showcase in Ukraine.

ORIGINAL TEAM

Creatives 

Director, writer: Anastasiya Yevchenko
Producers: Anastasiya Yevchenko, Yuliya Yevchenko, Olga Klymenko
Musical Producer: Maryana Golovko
Production Manager: Galyna Dubynska
Stage Manager: Patrytsiia Hnatkevych 
Set Designer: Vassa-Carolina Bagalika
Costume Designer: Mariia Kero 
Composer: Georgy Bystryakov
Sound designer: Yana Shlyabanska 
Lighting Designer: Sergiy Nevgadovskiy
Choreographers: Maksym Peknyi & Olga Goldys 
Scent Designer: Victoria Filatova
Hair & Make Up: Marta Rodyk
Projection Designer: Oleksandr Bratinov
Technical Director: Sergiy Gumeniuk

Cast

Prince (Head Butler): Dariush Eslami (RIP)
Count Hervé de Grandsailles, Salvador Dalí, Adolf Braun: Oleksandr Martynenko
Madame Solange de Cléda, Gala Dalí, Eva Braun: Polina Snisarenko-Kulchytska
Monsieur Cordier, Luis Buñuel, Günter: Ruslan Miroshnychenko
Marquis de Royancourt, Tristan Tzara, Johannes:  Denis Kapustin
Madame de Montluçon, Freud-Snail-Tail (Id), Elsa Schiaparelli:  Kateryna Kisten
Villers, Prince d’Orminy, Hans the Rabbit:  Rob Feldman
Maître Girardin, Freud-Snail-Torso (Ego), André Breton, Wolfgang: Denys Rodnyanskyi
Freud-Snail-Head (Superego), Max Ernst, Otto:  Maksym Peknyi
Leonora Carrington, Greta:  Iryna Polikovska
Impro:  Daniil Prymachov
Impro:  Kateryna Hordiienko

Team members

Ukrainian R&D Co-Producer:  Iryna Batko-Stupka
Administrator: Daryna Kondratiuk
Casting Director:  Viktoria Melnychuk, Viktoria Bobrova
Grant Manager:  Svitlana Yevdokymenko
Legal team:  Natalya Levchenko, Oleksandr Maznov 
Digital Version Creator:  Oleksandra Zubchenko
Backstage Videographer:  Igor Povazhnyuk 
Photographer:  Anna Sandul
Translator (rehearsal script):  Dmytro Drozdovskyi 
Dialect Coaches:  Ludmila Skreminska, Uliana Sinaieva, Ksenya Shaposhnychenko
Development Advisor: Vladyslav Konoplov
Mentors: Lilia Reshnuk, Oleksii Filanovskyi, Olga Vergeles, Ante Law Firm, Nina Cornyetz, Rosane Limoncelli, Alisa Zhulina

In Loving Memory of Dariush Eslami (09.09.1999-16.07.2024)

Our Prince, friend, colleague, exceptional actor, guitar virtuoso, comic, hooligan.

Forever in the hearts of the Ukrainian team. Silence… Nothing… Nihil.