RIOT Days is a show based on Moscow based feminist protest art collective Pussy Riot.
Formed in 2011 the group staged unauthorised provocative guerrilla punk rock performances in unusual public places, which were made into music videos and posted on the Internet. The collective’s lyrical themes included feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the group considered a dictator. `
They gained global notoriety when five members of the group staged a Punk Prayer performance inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 2012. On August 17, 2012, three Pussy Riot members – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”, and each was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.
In December 2016 Maria Alyokhina and music producer Alexander Cheparukhin started a new project titled Riot Days based on Alyokhina’s memoir of the same name.
Riot Days show is produced by Alexander Cheparukhin and directed by Yury Muravitsky – one of the leading Russian theatre directors, now the artistic director of legendary Taganka Theatre in Moscow.
The show is an innovative combination of live music, theatre and video. It’s a personal story of Alyokhina as a member of Pussy Riot: actions in Red Square and the Cathedral, arrest, court and prison.
The content of the show changes frequently. It adds new episodes and new songs. The prosecution of political prisoners, Russian aggression against Ukraine, all this is reflected in the project.
Riot Days has toured all over the world, giving more than 200 performances in Europe, USA, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. The project has received prestigious international awards, including Herald Angel Award and Total Theatre Award of Edinburgh Festivals.
In 2021 – 2022 Maria Alyokhina spent more than one year in jail and under house arrest for just social media posts supporting Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who was poisoned and then imprisoned by Putin’s regime.
Kate Hutchinson of The Guardian reviewed the show at Edinburgh Festival saying, “Riot Days is more than just a gig – it’s somewhere between a gripping piece of Putin-skewering musical theatre, an urgent jazz-punk book recital and a film screening that unfurls like a nerve-shredding thriller.”
PUSSY RIOT: Riot Days, presented by Seoda Shows in association with Singular Artists plays at Dolans Warehouse on Monday November 14.
https://youtu.be/tYmmKlc728o
