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  • Vanya is Alive

    Thu 3 - Fri 4 Oct at 7.15pm
    Tickets £8-£12 (+ booking fee)
    ARCHIVE
    A powerful new play from today’s Russia gives a look at the country grappling with the reality of war and repressions. Presented by artists in exile.

    Get 25% off when you book more than one show across our Autumn Season (September - December 2024).

    Written in March 2022, Vanya Is Alive is considered to be the most important play in Russian since the start of the full-scale invasion. The show was premiered in August 2023 at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. It won the audience recognition and received excellent reviews from renowned media outlets such as The Financial Times, The Scotsman, The Edinburgh Reporter and many others. Presented by Russian artists in exile due to their anti-war position.

    A mother of a mobilised Russian soldier plunges into the abyss as she struggles to comb through state propaganda and lies. Where lie the limits of personal responsibility? Can an individual stand up against the system? Echoing the actual political situation in Russia, this dark tale reflects on the price of truth and freedom with a touch of absurdity and disarming sincerity. A look at the country grappling with the reality of war and repressions.

    Credits:
    Writer - Natalia Lizorkina
    Director, translator - Ivanka Polchenko
    Cast - Nikolay Mulakov
    With the participation of Elena Gordienko, Ksenia Peretrukhina and Olga Sukhovey
    Photo credits – Vlada Nebo
    Produced with the support of Pushkin House and Exchange Theatre.

    Content Notice
    Running Time 50 mins
    Wheelchair Accessible
    Wheelchair Accessible
    Assistance dogs welcome
    Assistance dogs welcome
    Content Notice
    Content NoticeContains distressing or potentially triggering themes of violence and death, although the mention of it is implicit. Explicit language (mild use) is featured at one moment in the play.
    "Unsettling, heart-breaking and remarkably compelling. Lizorkina’s excellent script effortlessly balances the intimacy of the central story with an existential universality."
    THE SKINNY [on this show]
    "A tour de force by actor Nikolay Mulakov. A modern tragic tale, told by Russian artists in exile in 2023"
    THE EDINBURGH REPORTER [on this show]
    "In Nataliya Lizorkina’s succinct, subtle, strikingly absurdist new play, leanly directed by Ivanka Polchenko, the audience is pulled into the lies and repression of an authoritarian regime through the protagonist’s descent from denial to grief to prison."
    THE FINANCIAL TIMES [on this show]
    "A story told through the lens of pure authenticity. Vanya Is Alive is not just important; it is something that everyone needs to be aware of right now."
    BROADWAY WORLD [on this show]
    "This is theatre at its best – a lone voice in the dark, moving against the tide."
    THE THEATRE TIMES [on this show]

    "Hats off to the CPT for this fine show, well researched and coming from a place of great passion... Comm­unity theatre at its most effective."

    Camden New Journal (Human Jam)