On February 21st 2012, as a protest against Putin’s re-election, five women entered Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and, pulling on coloured balaclavas, bounded around the church’s altar, punching the air and imitating prayer. Using the melody of ‘Ave Maria’ they performed their punk prayer, urging the Virgin Mary to help get rid of Putin… These women were members of Pussy Riot and their actions on this day and the consequences of those actions, would put them smack bang into the annuls of history.
On the 24th August 2018, one of those women , Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, joined by another woman and two men, entered the Phoenix in Exeter and, on the stage, told her story… and my God was it powerful.
Their work, named ‘Riot Days’ was described as a “subversive mix of activist art and live set.” It is the story of their rising infamy.
Pussy Riot is a collective of activists and, as the slogan on their T-shirts say, ‘Everyone can be Pussy Riot’. Performing on this night were Kyril Masheka, Nastya (one of the leaders of Pussy Riot of 2011-2012), Max of the music duo AWOTT (Asian Women On The Telephone) and, of course Maria ‘Masha’ Alyokhina, - despite being banned from leaving Russia - one of the founder members of Pussy Riot and one of the three women who spent time in Prison due to their bravery to speak out.
I was very excited.
The stage was flooded with red light and the members entered. This is where my review gets a bit scanty. I was too absorbed to write too many notes, too intrigued to think about what I was going to say and too entranced to think of anything but what I was watching on the stage.
As the DJ played his set, the group, standing in line at the front of the stage, told their story using images and subtitles to translate their message (A good idea, as they were speaking in Russian). Among the videos shown, were images of the infamous church performance, Putin, the Kremlin, the trial and other acts of protest that the group have performed, using terms like ‘Virgin Mary Banish Putin’ to increase the intensity and the emotion of the piece.
Although they didn’t wear them for the entire show (it is summer after all), the band donned their trademark ski masks at points throughout the performance.
We had been forewarned that we might get wet, and I was, for a minute or two, suspicious that the ‘wet’ would be coming from the inside of Kyril’s pants, as he, pretty aggressively stuck his hands down his very tight trousers and simulated - Well I think/hope it was simulated – masturbation. But luckily the ‘wet’ was from bottles of water as they were later sprayed on the audience. That could have been messy…
But all too soon the piece was over and I could finally exhale.
So 'Spasiba' Pussy Riot, I hope they find Oyla and Sasha safe and well soon.
Just a couple of notes for the Exeter audience to end on:
Please buy their merchandise; the profits go towards assisting political prisoners.
For the person who swiped the gold mask from the stage, you utter dick, I hope you gave it back!
And, please, I know it’s exciting, but please stop heckling – this goes out to the woman in the front row – it was extremely annoying and disrupted the whole experience. It was a piece of art, a theatrical performance; you wouldn’t start heckling Jean ValJean during Les Mis, would you?
Review by Charlotte Cooper
Photography by Rhodri Cooper (All images subject to ©)
For all photos from the show, please click HERE to view the gallery.