Putin is Skiing /a play about the birth of a killer/

‘Putin Skiing’ from the Líšeň Theatre, based on the book by murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, aligns itself with the genre of documentary and political theater. It fulfills this genre in a truly original way: it is performed in a military tent, and the only set is a writing desk. On and around it, the grim images of today’s Russia unfold.

The grotesquely satirical form may remind some of Karel Král’s work, such as ‘Standa Has a Problem,’ which created a similar domestic panorama with two-dimensional puppet figures with real heads. ‘Putin Skiing’ could be considered a mordant of its kind, as the story of the father’s march to Moscow is horrifyingly absurd. The matryoshka puppet Putin (with an authentic face) can be manipulated from different sides; suddenly its tentacles grow like an octopus, then it skis, rides in a tank, flies like a rocket, and bathes in a golden tub surrounded by girls. Lenin and Stalin hover over him like benevolent godfathers.

Everything is handled by two excellently talented actors who not only know how to play from various corners of the peculiar set but also drive the performance with their intensely expressive style towards impressive carnivalization. They emerge from the illuminated drawers of the table, light candles for the deceased with a gas burner, embody terrorists and dedicated officials. When strange terrorist attacks unfold from Moscow to Beslan, tin silhouettes of unknown people fall into the drawers. The guys then attach them to their mantles like medals… Director Pavla Dombrovská provides a factual commentary on the “events in the writing desk” by reading selected passages from Politkovskaya’s book. The audience gradually realizes the horror of the reality that they previously perceived as a fragmented sequence of events in a distant country. Dombrovská’s deliberately non-acting delivery is a minor flaw, perhaps it would have worked better if the text were read with the necessary meanings and accents.

That the performance is based on the texts of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, murdered in Moscow some time ago, means a strong personal experience for me. Anna Politkovskaya was my journalistic colleague and personal friend. Thank you for choosing her words to depict today’s Russia.

With friendly respect,
Jaromír Štětina,
November 23, 2010

In front of just a few dozen spectators, completely away from social life, she reads from the diary of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, giving a voice to the critic of the Putin regime, who was shot by an unknown assailant in 2006. Together, they accuse the former Russian president and current prime minister of tolerating or even supporting terrorism, restricting personal freedoms, and intolerable arrogance.

A shabby table with drawers comes to life with two actors whose inventive grotesque gags are far from mere illustrations of episodes read by Dombrovská from the book. Most are so vivid and multi-layered that the audience has to work to keep up with the movement of the theatrical character and the contexts of the metaphors. Drawers pop out like problems, which Putin tried to “shove into the drawer.” The production is a remarkable combination of drama and object theatre, creating an original “puppet” political satire that Czech theatre hasn’t seen since Karel Král’s staged reading ‘Standa Has a Problem.’

The Brno theatre fully identifies with Politkovská’s perspective and does not strive for political correctness or balance. On the contrary, it presents an entirely one-sided, anti-Putin image of Russia in recent years, creating, by our standards, unusually sharp, purely political theatre…

The events in the oppressive, dark brown military tent are concentrated around the already worn-out wooden table, serving as the stage. The book, lifted perpendicular by Kniha, transforms it into a projection screen, behind which props can be hidden and prepared. Symbolic scenic images are successful, such as blowing out candles for killed journalists and “burying” them in half-broken drawers. The attempts to caricature foolish Russian Putin supporters (with the necessary Cossack dance to Russian music) are less exaggerated… Pavla Dombrovská reads from the book ‘Russian Diary,’ directly accusing Putin of the events in Dubrovka, Beslan, or blaming him for the murder of politically inconvenient individuals. She ironically criticizes the attempt to lie out of responsibility. Naming the new president, Putin’s “appendage” and supporter Medvedev, appears sad and powerless in the face of the events outlined…

Certainly, political theater is meant to be biased, and that’s okay. But it doesn’t have to be demagogic. It can work with unexpected information (nothing presented in the book and the performance had not been mentioned before, for example, in the regular news of Czech Television). It could think about why things are the way they are, instead of the pathetic yelling at the helm, claiming that pigs are steering, wake up! After I ascended to the Supreme Court with Spitfires’ Trials to the very peaks of theatrical art, I was forced to descend to the bottom of it with Depressive Children, only for Líšeň to lead me into the very stinking underworld of the theater.

Content: the tragedy of Beslan, terrorists in the Dubrovka Theater, murdered Russian journalists, Chechnya, and much more. Everything I happily escaped from. Yes, it’s good to save yourself, leave, and not reminisce too much. Certainly, to empathize, occasionally be there, and frankly, rejoice that everything is far away. That it doesn’t concern me too much anymore. There are, of course, problems: “business,” foreign police, apartment hunting. The life of an emigrant is not easy. Therefore, the civic attitude, courage, and engagement of Czech actors and director Pavla Dombrovská in the Russian theme and current Russian issues evoke not only enthusiasm and astonishment but also shame personally for me. They are Czechs, and it disturbs them! They do not regret effort or money, and they do something. In fact, they are more concerned than I am, still a citizen of Russia. One of us was right when he expressed that we are “salami emigration.” We came for economic prosperity and a quieter life. We came to enjoy, not to create. Too bad? Certainly. But this performance raised these questions in me. Not the one who attacked us with the mentioned definition. Although he is right in his own way… In the middle of the open stage stood a huge accountant’s table with drawers. From them, the actors of the Líšeň Theater pulled out their puppets and props for their play. I said to myself: I really wouldn’t want to be one of the puppets on this bureaucratic table. Because that would mean one thing: my personal freedom is just my illusion, which I comfort myself with in my Prague concerns about my daily bread and attempts to look down on events in Russia. Nasťa Astašina (former actress of the Dřevo theater, has been living in Prague since the early 90s)