LONDON CITY NIGHTS

Rating:

Back in 2012 I protested and fundraised for Pussy Riot during their 2012 trial, at the conclusion of which they were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". I attended meetings at the Royal Court Theatre in which people who'd attended the trial reported their experiences in court and heard the closing statements of the three defendants (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samoutsevitch (aka Nadya, Masha and Katya)) performed by actors. Following Nadya and Masha's conviction, I followed the communications from the 'Corrective Labour Camp' and was relieved when they were released early

All this made it extremely surreal to be sat alongside Nadya Tolokonnikova as we processed through a heightened reenactment of her punk prayer protest and subsequent trial and incarceration. This is Inside Pussy Riot, an immersive theatrical experience that tries to educate the audience about what Nadya, Masha and Katya went through and provide a framework on which we can construct our own rebellions.

What the show precisely consists of should remain a mystery. The line between performer and audience is frequently blurred, there's a constant tension on what the show expects from you and nobody knows what is going to be through the next set of doors. It'd spoil the show to explain what's in store, so I'm not going to go into specifics.

What I can say is that there's an uncomfortable tonal friction between the show's DIY punk ideals and its establishment surroundings. The show wears a cloak of feminism, its opening room a perverse mini-cathedral studded with icons of Trump, Farage, Putin and Harvey Weinstein. The show repeatedly makes a point about the importance of free speech and specifically giving women a voice. But I couldn't help but think of that picture of gallery founder Charles Saatchi squeezing Nigella Lawson's throat closed to shut her up. This discontinuity between message and place became an itch I just couldn't scratch. 

Worse, Inside Pussy Riot styles itself as political, but communicates only the vaguest political sentiments. You're handed placards with generic 'protest' slogans like "Save the Planet", "Nobody Rules Me but Me" or "Share the World's Wealth" and later encouraged to yell them out loud (this is insanely awkward). It falls flat - but how could it not when there's zero engagement with the ideology that underpins the slogans? The show often feels like the political equivalent of a teenager buying an AC/DC t-shirt from Primark purely because the logo looks kinda cool.

On top of that, playacting the role of a Russian prisoner made me insanely uncomfortable (especially as I was literally sat alongside Nadya, who had experienced this first hand). Maybe that uncomfortableness was the point, but pretending to be a tortured prisoner in a flashy London gallery in one of the richest neighbourhoods in one of the richest cities in the world felt like straight-up misery tourism. This was only compounded in the launch's afterparty, where the shiny happy people of West London's art set quaffed free shots of vodka alongside trays of simulated labour camp food.

Knowing that Nadya Tolokonnikova co-wrote this makes me feel a little better - there is a validity in taking the nightmare inflicted upon you by a repressive state and reforging it into a weapon to retaliate with - but all too often the show strays into plain old camp. For example, you do not particularly feel like you are gaining a real understanding of the horrors of incarceration when a sexy dominatrix prison guard is strutting around calling you "Princess".

Beyond all that, there's a frustrating regimentation to the show. Immersive theatre at its best gives the illusion of barely coordinated chaos. In the best immersive shows I've seen the audience is at least under the impression they're in control and forging their own stories. Here you dutifully troop from room to room, with an actor at one point breaking character and explaining that the show doesn't really work if you disobey the orders. On paper, the show is about going your own way and kicking back against societal norms. In practice Inside Pussy Riot is about doing what you're told, which extends even to the final moments where you're commanded to step forward and perform protest like a dog begging for a treat.

Inside Pussy Riot looks, sounds and acts the part, but peel away the surface and it's entirely hollow. Political theatre really must do better than simply telling us to "stand up for what you believe in".

Inside Pussy Riot is at the Saatchi Gallery until 24 December. Tickets here.

A defining symbol of the modern age is an individual standing in opposition to vast, oppressive state machinery.  Perhaps the defining image is Tiananmen Square's 'Tank Man', an unknown individual standing in front of a column of tanks, a simple protest that reverberated around the world, becoming one of the iconic images of the 20th century. There's something both inspiring and terrifying about individuals who are prepared to throw themselves into the gears of a vast machine, becoming a thorn in the side of men with Mammon-like financial resources, literal armies of goons and very dark and miserable holes that they can throw you in.  

This documentary follows the process by which a state brings its full might to bear on Nadya, Katya and Masha, three members of Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist punk rock art collective famous for their guerilla performances. Their most notorious and effective invoved them invading the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and singing a "punk prayer" to protest the Orthodox Church's support of Vladimir Putin.

This is a subject close to my heart.  I've attended protests at the Russian Embassy in London and theatrical recreations of the trial.  I've written extensively about the case here: 

http://www.londoncitynights.com/2012/08/pussy-riot-final-verdict-at-royal-court.html.

To win these tickets: 

Simply email me or comment below with the most abrasive, punk-rock as hell all-girl band name you can come up with. Something that'll strike terror into the hearts of misogynists! Something that'd look great on a faded t-shirt! Something that the very sound of will make the patriarchy shudder in panic and run for the hills!

Admittedly 'Pussy Riot' is hard to beat - but I'm sure you can come up with something great.

I'll post the best ones on Monday morning and announce the winner.

The competition is CLOSED.

So shouts record store owner Terri Hooley from the stage of a packed out Ulster Hall.  The room is a sea of dyed hair, safety pins, studded leather jackets - sweaty, smiling youth, blissed out on the buzz of punk rock rebellion.  In the 70s and 80s Belfast was a city divided; the sum total of your identity was Catholic or Protestant.  But in this hall those boundaries mean fuck all -  it’s April 1980, and these kids are united under a shared cultural identity: punk rock and they're kicking back against the sectarian bullshit that surrounds them.

So the verdict has been returned: guilty.  The crime:

This short protest performance against the re-election of the unabashedly sinister Vladimir Putin inside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.  For they have been convicted of 'committing hooliganism driven by religious hatred'.  They faced a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison, and have ultimately been sentenced to 2 years.

The trial of the three women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samoutsevitch (aka Nadya, Masha and Katya) has been internationally derided as a mockery of justice.  The full might of the Russian state has been brought to bear upon three young women accused of promoting religious hatred and of having "crudely undermined social order".  This from a government currently propping up the psychopathic and murderous al-Assad regime in Syria.

Pussy Riot

The performance I attended at the Royal Court Theatre Bar took place a few hours before the judge's verdict was announced.  As a piece of drama it was fairly straightforward - three recitations of the translations of Pussy Riot's closing statements.  Also speaking was Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, who has attended part of the trial in Moscow and E.V. Crowe, playwright, who gave a short introduction.  The actors reading the statements were Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lydia Wilson and Lyndsey Marshall.

I arrived ten minutes before the performance began, and the room was completely jam-packed with supporters of Pussy Riot.  The organisers apparently had expected a smaller crowd, and people had to jostle for space to get a view of the stage.  Space within the room was at a premium, and I was elbow to elbow with other supporters as the performance began.

Kerry McCarthy MP speaking.

Kerry McCarthy MP gave a quick account of her experience at the trial.  To us packed in the crowd, the room we were in felt small enough - but she informed us that the courtroom in Russia is smaller than even this, and the temperature stiflingly hot.  Her impressions of the trial were that the balance of power lay firmly with the prosecution team.  The defence are only allowed to call two character witnesses, and the defendants looked tired and sleep deprived - unsurprising when they're facing 12 hour days in court - coupled with a 4-5 hour round trip to the jail.  Although, she was sure to point out, they were composed and strong throughout.

Pussy Riot in the dock.

When looking at these pictures of Pussy Riot in the dock, it is hard not to feel a sense of the ridiculous.  Can these three women really be such a threat to the state that they warrant this level of harassment?  There is a certain sense of bemusement to proceedings.  Exactly who or what is being protected here?  Are these people really considered a threat to the fabric of Russian society?   It seems a bizarrely outlandish mismatch - on one side we have intelligent, articulate women in knitted balaclavas with guitars protesting against hypocrisy and deceit, and on the other we have scarily powerful, fabulously wealthy rich men with literal armies and police forces at their disposal.  But, when the Russian state paints Pussy Riot as a genuine threat to the fabric of Russian society they seem to have inadvertently validated their philosophy.  Clearly the system is rattled to some extent - otherwise why on earth would they put them through such a one-sided and public show trial?

"We are absolutely against and feel compelled to act against the measures of force used to regulate society, harsh mechanisms to control our citizens’ behaviour. We are against the passivity which is forced upon the majority of the population, and the complete domination by executive power over judicial and legal processes. We are also honestly angered by the low level of political culture. It is a scandal and the result of fear, and it is deliberately and constantly maintained by the state system and its henchmen. Just hear what Patriarch Kirill says: ‘Orthodox believers do not attend political protests.’ We are angered by the scandalous weakness of non-hierarchical structures in society. We do not like the way in which the state manipulates public opinion through the strict control of the vast majority of media outlets." - Nadya's statement

One of the notable ironies of the state bringing forth all its might to crush an artistic protest against the government is that in doing so they've given Pussy Riot an international platform in which they can explain their philosophy to the world.  These women understand the importance of the moment, and their statements are lucid, literate, defiant and completely damning of the process they have endured for daring to speak out against a crude and corrupt authority.  This platform - as prominent as it is - has a high price.  Following their seemingly inevitable conviction (99% of trials in Russia return a guilty verdict) these women will disappear into the murky Russian prison system where as professed enemies of the state it is doubtful they will be treated with any leniency.  The world is watching now, but the news cycle is transitory, and a few months from now they will be old news for the majority.

Lyndsey Marshal speaking.

A common theme in their statements is the sickness and depravity of the Russian state - as embodied in the repressive thug Vladimir Putin.  The prosecution seemed to be typified by crude and anti-intellectual language, with the state prosecutor referring to "so-called" contemporary art, and repeatedly referring to the women as "victims" (of what exactly?) and "Satanists".  Throughout their statements we repeatedly hear them defining their philosophical and mental freedom as opposed to the invisible censorship that hangs over the representatives of the state in the court.  From behind bars, the women convincingly paint a picture of how they are the free ones in this courtroom.  The prosecutor isn't even allowed to speak the words they used when protesting and as Nadya puts it "their mouths are sewn shut".

"You might say that we are against Putin’s chaos, which only from the outside might be described as a regime. Our opinion is that there has been a mutation of almost all institutions within the system – whilst preserving external appearances – and it is destroying the civil society we value so much. It is strange that the government, in reacting to our action, has not given the least consideration to the historical precedent for such displays of alternative thinking. ‘ The country in which straightforward honesty is seen at best as heroism, and at worst, as mental illness, is an unlucky one.’ The dissident Vladimir Bukovsky said that in the 1970s. Not much time has passed and it’s just as if nothing happened: neither the purges, nor Brezhnev’s stagnation, nor the attempts to resist them." - Maria's statement

Pippa Bennett-Warner speaking.

Comparisons are drawn to other dissenting artistic figures in Russian history who were repressed in similar circumstances.   We hear about poet Alexander Vvedensky, arrested for "counterrevolutionary agitation" in 1941, later to have died in mysterious circumstances while being transported from one prison to another.  We're told of the denunciation of poet Joseph Brodsky who was put on trial and interrogated by the judge - "Who has recognised you as a poet?  Who has enrolled you in the ranks of poets?".  "No-one. Who enrolled me in the ranks of the human race?" he replied bravely.  He served 18 months of hard labour in a farm in the Arctic before having his sentence commuted as a result of huge international pressure.  It seems that despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, some things never change.  To be sitting and hearing artists lucidly and passionately having to defend their right to question what is ostensibly a secular state in 2012 is quite disheartening.  

Lydia Marsh speaking.

It is indisputable that Pussy Riot have succeeded in their aim to highlight the corrupt and totalitarianism of the Russian state.  But then, the state is secure in its belligerence - even if the world regards them as a bunch of ludicrously repressive bullies what does it matter to them as long as they cling tenaciously to power?  Who is going to resist them?  The purpose of this trial seems to be to demonstrate that even under international pressure and near universal condemnation that they will not hesitate to crush any dissent.  Anti-Putin demonstrators have been repeatedly attacked by the police, bloggers are being arrested for what they've written down -  a climate of fear is being created.  This paranoid atmosphere is a creation of people whose aim is to be feared rather than loved.  The conviction, trial and imprisonment of Pussy Riot is just the most public demonstration of this philosophy.  After all, if you've the international community at large condemning you and a large portion of the Russian citizenry on your side and they still pack Pussy Riot off into some dark sunless cell what chances does anyone else stand?

"It is possible that the unpleasant and large-scale consequences of our ‘media gate-crashing’ of the Cathedral were unforeseen, even by the government. To begin with they attempted to pass off our performance as an attack by soulless militant atheists, but they failed as we were by that time already famous as an anti-Putin feminist punk group. And only when they had weighed up the political and symbolic damage that we had inflicted with our art did they decide to protect society against us and our convictions. And that is how this complicated punk-adventure ended.

I have mixed feelings about this trial. On the one hand we are waiting for the verdict of guilty to be passed. On the other, we have won, because the case against us is fabricated and the state is not able to hide the repressive nature of the judicial process. Russia once again does not appear in the eyes of the world as Vladimir Putin wishes to portray it in his daily international meetings. All the steps he promised to take towards a legal state were clearly never taken. And his announcements that our trial would be objective are just another deception, practised on the country and the world community." - Katya's statement

But there is a faint light at the end of this tunnel - the nature of Pussy Riot is that anyone can join them.  The iconography of Pussy Riot is easy to emulate, and crucially anonymises those participating in demonstration 'as' Pussy Riot.  Masha, Nadia and Katya are soon to be imprisoned, and yet simultaneously Pussy Riot are giving interviews to the international press and still performing concerts.  It goes to prove that while it is relatively easy for the state to crack down on specific individuals it is far more difficult to stamp out an idea.  

Pussy Riot protestors at the Russian Embassy

This performance felt important, and it was an excellent no-frills way for us to understand the emotions and passion that the members of Pussy Riot feel for their cause.  Simply reading these speeches is inspiring enough, but having the translations read aloud like this brings them to immediate life.

Another protestor at the Russian Embassy.

Following this performance I headed up to the Russian Embassy in Notting Hill to take part in the 'Free Pussy Riot!' demonstration.  On a drab pavement on a sunny day, the primary colours and costumes of the crowd seemed to express a positivity and optimism that is seemingly at odds with the depressing reality.  As news of the verdict spread through the crowd a chorus of boos and shouts of 'shame' rose, directed at the embassy.  It was inspirational.  Speaking to my fellow protesters was similarly uplifting; a gathering of people who have taken time out of their lives to speak out publicly against artistic repression and place themselves in opposition to the anti-intellectual philosophy of Vladimir Putin's increasingly right-wing, theocratic state apparatus.  I'm sure the Russian state couldn't care less about what a bunch of protesters in London think of them, but the least we can hope for is that news of the demonstrations throughout the world today buoys the spirits of those who risk their lives and liberty illuminating the actions of these overly authoritarian bastards.

More protestors.  Especially stylish and cool looking ones.

Standing in a protest like this raises ones mood greatly.  In a world run by amoral psychopaths it is nice to stake your colours to the mast and stand alongside people who believe in the rights of expression, people who when confronted by injustice take to the streets and loudly shout, point, shame and decry those who see artistic expression and criticism as a threat.  The cynic would say that protesting like this doesn't change anything, and in most circumstances they're absolutely right.  But just being able to stand up and yell "this is wrong" is a privilege that we should never take for granted.