Vlad the impaler?
Yesterday at Patriots at the Almeida - effectively The Rise and Fall of Boris Berezovsky as far as narrative arc is concerned. But, and perhaps more interestingly (hence the title) what ‘being a patriot’ might mean when your definition of what you are patriotic towards may differ greatly from other’s definitions.
The 3 principal characters, Berezovsky, Vlad Putin and Roman Abramovich offer very different interpretations and it is their imagined interplay which becomes fascinating.
Of course, with Russian politicians and Oligarchs the principal characters, there are virtually no sympathetic characters in this (Alexander Litvinenko – yes, that Alexander Litvinenko – and his wife apart, together with Berezovsky’s main Math’s Professor). But, perhaps because his principal opponent becomes Putin, it is Berezovsky – ably played by Tom Hollander – who we might wish to side with – and certainly not Putin, with an admirably precise performance from Will Keen who – with current events in mind, is actually even more scary and plausible than when the play was first penned.
The play is staged on a cruciform thrust stage and is presented as a series of quick, linked, sketches – quickly capturing the protagonists and their ideas without exploring them in detailed debate. Ibsen it’s not. The ‘debate’ is impressionistic, not detailed, and actors act, not explain, their takes on patriotism (in the main).
Interestingly the play is bookended by a sentimental and traditional review of Russian patriotism – in terms of music and food and memories of snow – but it is not this vision which drives the protagonists, even though it is this vision which colours their own interpretations. Having lived through the history, the play is at least wholly plausible, and in many elements convincing. If you had been slightly surprised by Abramovich being sanctioned so swiftly, now you won’t be.
It’s had good reviews throughout, and this is another.
It’s transferring to the West End.