To watch a short video clip of scenes from the production click on this link.
Production photos available: click on this link.
REVIEWS
Huffington Post
Telegraph
Exeunt magazine
Russia Beyond The Headlines
Russian Art and Culture
SNOB
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
14 Nov Preview –
“Interesting, engaging production. Equally strong performances from all the cast.”
“Interesting portrayal of the situation, effective use of video & sound.”
“Brilliantly acted, superb piece of theatre about a really horrid picture of Russia.”
“Very horrifyingly wonderful reconstruction”
17 Nov 2012 –
“To bring this story to London is an honour, an integral part of Theatre and essential to keep theatre alive. Incredible powerful story revealed with complete craft.”
“Very powerfully directed”
“Rare and wonderful to see an excellent play that has a real purpose in life in social terms and that is also dramaturgically excellent. A rare combination!”
22 Nov 2012 –
‘Fantastic acting from all the cast’
‘Very powerful. Excellent performance and set’
‘Great acting. Good set, liked the use of video. Simply and directly told.’
24 Nov 2012 –
‘The piece was an education for me. It’s one of those pieces that when it ends you don’t know whether to clap not because it’s not good but because you realise the piece is a testimony.’
‘Gripping. Unreal, though real. Unbelievable.’
CAST
Alan Francis
Scottish actor and comedian. Theatre includes: The Tempest (Dundee Rep), Twelfth Night (RSC), Penetrator (Royal Court and Traverse Theatre), Jeffrey Dahmer is Unwell (Kings Head), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Tour), Breaker Morant (Edinburgh Festival), The Winters Tale (Royal Lyceum), Three Men in a Boat (York Theatre Royal), Caledonia (National Theatre of Scotland), Accolade (Finsborough Theatre). Television includes: Alistair McGowan’s Big Impression, The 11 O’Clock Show (Channel 4), Pulling (BBC), Taggart (ITV). Radio includes: Stamp Collecting with Legs, It’s that Jo Caulfield Again and Inside Alan Francis (All BBC Radio 4). Alan was in two shows at the Edinburgh Festival this year: Mid Morning Matters (Baby Cow) and Alan Francis: Expands (Gilded Balloon).
Wendy Nottingham
Theatre includes: Celebrity Night at Cafe Red and Step 9 of 12 (Trafalgar Studios), In Basildon (Royal Court), Grief (National Theatre), Fen (Finborough), Stoopud Fucken Animals (Traverse Theatre), Cloud Nine (Crucible Theatre), Abigail’s Party (Hampstead/ Ambassadors Theatre), The York Realist (Tour/Royal Court), It’s A Great Big Shame! (Stratford East). Film includes: Bigga Than Ben (Bigga Than Ben), Notes On A Scandal (Fox Searchlight), Babel (GHM Films), Vera Drake, Topsy-Turvy and Secrets and Lies (Thin Man Films), The Short and Curlies (Portman Quintet). Television includes: Mr Selfridge (ITV), The Borgias (LB TV Productions), A Young Doctor’s Notebook (BigTalk), Victoria Wood Christmas Special (BBC), Getting On (BBC), Spooks (Kudos), Housewife 49 (Granada), People Like Us (BBC), The Peter Principle (Hatrick), The Sculptress (Red Rooster), Precious Bane (BBC).
Rebecca Peyton
Theatre includes: Enduring Song (Bristol Old Vic), Billy Chickens is a Psychopath Superstar (Theatre 503/Latitude), The Odyssey (The Albany, Deptford), Soldiers (Finborough Theatre), Hothouse (Arcola Theatre & tour), Troubleshooters (Soho Theatre), Julius Caesar (Barbican), Electra (The Gate), Danelaw (White Bear), Next Door (Rosemary Branch), La Bête Humaine (Grange Court Theatre), Here But There (Teatro Vivo tour), Two (Judi Dench Theatre). TV includes: Eastenders, Casualty, Stan, True Stories – Elizabeth Fry (all BBC). Film includes: Where I Belong, Bloody Mary, All Friends Here and The Rat Trap. Rebecca is a member of Teatro Vivo and Actors for Human Rights. Her first play Sometimes I Laugh Like My Sister has toured nationally, internationally and enjoyed a sell-out run at the Finborough. The tour continues in 2013 at the Tristan Bates on 9 and 12 January and then goes to South Africa.
Danny Scheinmann
Theatre includes: Adelaide Road (RSC), Slave (The Lowry),The Play Of The Weather (Hampton Court), The Jollies (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Winter’s Tale (Bath Theatre Royal), Ramayana (National Theatre), Quarantine (Birmingham Rep), Hansel Gretel Machine (David Glass Ensemble, World Tour), A Midsummer’s Night Dream (English Shakespeare Co), Tempest, Measure for Measure, Taming of The Shrew, Much Ado (all for AandBC). Film includes: Monty Python Almost the Truth, Endgame, The Man Who Cried, Judas, The West Wittering Affair, Leon the Pig Farmer.
TV includes: World Without End, Rosemary and Thyme, Mile High, 99-1, Sam Saturday.
Danny is also a best selling novelist, his book “Random Acts of Heroic Love” was shortlisted for the Galaxy British Book Awards and has been translated in to 21 languages.
CREATIVES
takis- Set Designer
From 2007-2011 as Designer in residence for HighTide, takis built the visual identity of the company, designing diverse productions to great acclaim including the very successful STOVEPIPE in collaboration with the National Theatre (Off West End Design nomination), and DITCH with Old Vic. Theatre includes: Fear (Bush Theatre), Bacchae (Royal & Derngate), Napoli (West Yorkshire Playhouse & tour), Clytemnestra & Measure for Measure (Sherman Theatre), Twelfth Night, As You Like It & Much Ado About Nothing (Chester Open Air Theatre), The Early Bird (Finborough Theatre/ Project Art Centre-Dublin), Signs of a Star Shaped Diva (Theatre Royal Stratford East & tour).
Ben Chessell- Video Designer
Ben studied Ecology and Medieval History at Melbourne University and graduated from Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. He works as a director and writer. Film includes: The Only Person In The World (finalist at the 2002 Dendy Awards, nominated for an AFI award, won Best Short Film at the Australian Circle of Film Critics, Heartworm, A Familiar Lullaby This Time In German, The Heartbreak Tour (SBSi). The Heartbreak Tour, Little Deaths project (Melbourne International Film Festival 2008). Television includes: Dance Academy (ABC TV Australia/ZDF Germany), RUSH and Offspring (Southern Star, Channel 10, Australia).
Charlie Lucas- Lighting Designer
Lighting designs include: The Slow Sword (Sputnik), The Match Box (Liverpool Playhouse), The Magic Flute (Garsington Opera at West Green House), Mummyji Presents (Watford Palace), Walking the Tightrope (Arcola), Cautionary Tales (Opera North), Jealousy (The Print Room), Red Riding Hood (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Von Ribbentrop’s Watch (Oxford Playhouse and tour), Red (Robin Howard Dance Theatre, The Place), Snakes and Ladders (Brighton Pavilion Theatre), 1888 (Union Theatre), I am a Camera (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Nina & Shaz (Rich Mix and tour), sohostreets (Soho Theatre), In Blood: The Bacchae (Arcola). Charlie trained at RADA on the specialist stage electrics and lighting design course.
Ed Clarke- Composer and Sound Designer
Ed was nominated for an Olivier Award for his sound design for Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein (National Theatre). Other sound designs include Backbeat (Duke of York’s Theatre), The Mysteries and The Good Hope (National Theatre), The Railway Children (Waterloo International Station and Roundhouse Theatre Toronto), FEAR (Bush Theatre), His Teeth (Only Connect Theatre), Happy Now? (Hull Truck Theatre), Wizard of Oz (Royal Festival Hall). As Associate Sound Designer: Matthew Bourne’s Early Adventures (UK Tour), Mary Poppins (UK tour, Circustheatre Scheveningen and current US tour), The Witches (UK tour).
Bret Yount- Fight Director
Trained as an actor at the University of Arkansas and the Guildford School of Acting, Bret is currently a member of Equity’s Fight Directors Register, a CT with the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) and a Master Teacher with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat (BASSC). Bret’s fight direction work has been seen at: Playhouse Theatre, National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Hampstead Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman, Haymarket Theatre-Basingstoke, Theatre-by-the-Lake, Keswick, Theatre Royal – York, Mercury Theatre- Colchester, Hull Truck Theatre, UCC – Singapore and the Palais des Festival, Cannes.
