Morgan’s play certainly draws our minds to how Russian’s 1% ended up here, playing out their power battles in UK courtrooms as was in the case with Berezovksy and Abramovich, and as fascinating as this post-perestroika era may be, it begs for a far fuller look at the London connection.Īt the Almeida theatre, London, until 20 August.
It is also open-source, allowing for future derivatives by any party. It is no longer developed, with the latest version released on 22 April 2005. It has no UI or options and consists of a single tray icon. It seems like a missed opportunity that the drama is so firmly located in the past, considering the ever-growing story around Londongrad, and that Berezovky’s life in the UK is not touched upon – given Litvinenko and Abramovich’s presence in Britain, too. PeerGuardian Lite is a derivative of PeerGuardian 2 made to consume as little CPU and RAM as possible. There is no mention of Ukraine, but in his final incarnation there are all the signs of the warmongering expansionist, surveying the land and wanting to restore Russia to its past glory. Patriots looks to the past and traces a line not only around Berezovsky’s rise, fall and final years of exile in Berkshire, but Putin’s transformation from politician to autocrat.
His is more than just an imitative performance and even when he grows more megalomaniacal, Keen avoids caricature and keeps his character’s self-righteous desire for Russian imperialism convincingly real, and chilling. The show-stealing performance is Will Keen’s saturnine Putin who emerges as the greatest and most sinister force on stage. Luke Thallon makes an uncanny Abramovich, his shyness and boyish charm wavering uncertainly between contrivance and innocence, while Jamael Westman’s Litvinenko is the only likable character, although he looks a little too much like he has stepped off the set of a Jed Mercurio police procedural. “I created you,” he reminds Putin with furious indignation, sounding like Dr Frankenstein addressing his monster. Neither manifestation feels entirely convincing at first but as he becomes more broken, he emerges as a truly tragic figure, almost Shakespearean in his deposed, exiled state. Tom Hollander’s Berezovsky appears like a wealthy accountant but veers into bursts of antic prancing or bug-eyed fits of rage.
Photograph: Marc Brennerīut the play resets itself in the second half, dropping the Dead Ringers-style wisecracks and gathering potency, gripping stillness and tension.