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Pussy Riot Takes Fans Inside Prison With Immersive Theatrical Experience
Pussy Riot in Moscow in 2012. “Our plan is to provoke and challenge [our audience],” says Lansley
In 2012, Pussy Riot’s
Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were given two-year prison
sentences (on charges of hooliganism incited by religious hatred) after
performing a provocative rock song, “Punk Prayer,” in a Moscow church.
The
incident inspired the 2013 documentary of the same name, and now,
pegged to the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the
collective is inviting fans and fellow “political junkies” (as
Tolokonnikova calls herself) to pull on a bright balaclava for an
immersive theater experience: Inside Pussy Riot.
“For a
lot of people, protest means boring duty,” says Tolokonnikova. “But
think back to 1968 [when] political events were so joyful. It was a
carnival, it was a festival.” So why not theater? From Nov. 14 to
Dec. 24 in London’s Saatchi Gallery, the theatrical experience, produced
by Les Enfants Terribles and funded through Kickstarter, will grant a
first-hand look at Russian prison life -- where Tolokonnikova dug
trenches for churches while belting the Russian national anthem, among
other punishments she can only describe as surreal. “We thought people
would say, ‘They made shit up. It couldn’t happen in reality,’” she
explains. “But it did.”
Even so, Inside Pussy Riot isn’t a sanctimonious political
statement. “This is not about shaking our heads and going, ‘Aren’t those
people awful,’” says Oliver Lansley, Les Enfants Terribles founder and
writer/artistic director of Inside Pussy Riot. “It’s about
stepping up and saying, ‘We can make change.’ Trying to create protest
as a more positive and joyful experience.” Adds Tolokonnikova: “I want
[participants] to walk away with the idea that solidarity is the best
treasure we have.”
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