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Senior Puppet Artist

Iryna joined the Theatre team in 2000 and is now a senior puppet artist. I her opinion, “the puppet is a truly sacred and magical entity, which, when coming alive in a puppeteer’s hands, works miracles and gives the children a true tale. The puppet is more dynamic and offers so many more options compared to an actual actor.”

Iryna Ostyuk graduated from the Lviv Public School of Culture and Arts and received the qualification of Cultural and Leisure Event Manager, Manager of Amateur Theatre Ensembles, and Teacher of Theatre Subjects. Subsequently, she studied at the Rivne Public Humanitarian University, where she trained as Pedagogical, Cultural and Leisure Event Manager. She also completed training courses focused on commenting dynamic visual works for visually impaired audiences and obtained a qualification in Audio Description of Visual Works.

Throughout her career with the Lviv Academic Regional Puppet Theatre, she has played a wealth of roles, including:

Mom for a Little Mammoth – Bear Cub, Little Ape;

The Enchanted Glove – Auntie, Mouse, Foxy;

The Magic Grain – Nastya;

The Three Little Pigs – Nif-Nif;

Robocop’s Adventures – Little Ape;

The Young Fairy – Granny Magpie;

Fierce Enemies – Cat Mickey;

Funny Stories of the Puss – Puss;

Mytsyk the Little Mouse – Mytsyk;

Little Red Riding Hood Revisited – Little Red Riding Hood, host;

Rim-Tim-Ti – Hen, Doggie, Foxy;

Ali Baba and the Thieves – Fatima, Maid;

The Little Straw Bull – Bull;

Nibbly-Quibbly the Goat – Nibbly-Quibbly the Goat;

Johnny-Honey – Snaky Olenka;

With a Wave of a Wand – Mother, Queen;

Puss in Boots – Cook;

Our Merry Little Round Bun – Little Round Bun;

The Recovered Puppet – Lamp, Earth

She has this to say about her work: “I love all my roles, and cherish each of them. After all, each role is a step forward, a kind of small victory over myself. I’m most proud of the roles of Nastya in The Magic Grain, Fatima in Ali Baba and the Thieves, Foxy in The Enchanted Glove, and, of course, Nibbly-Quibbly the Goat in the eponymous play, and Lamp and Earth in The Recovered Puppet.

Iryna’s personal motto is “Look for the pros in everything that happens, and you’ll surely find them!” In 2003, she won an award in the category Best Cameo Appearance for her role of the Bear and the Monkey in the play Mom for a Little Mammoth, and, in 2016, a best actress award for her performance in Nibbly-Quibbly the Goat.

Iryna dreams of great new roles, challenging projects, festivals, tours and a children’s theatre studio on the Theatre’s premises. She continues her work in audio descriptive commentary of performances for people with visual impairments.