The Last Word

Continuing Marylebone Theatre’s interest in all things Russian, this new multimedia performance piece directed by Maxim Didenko and conceived of and performed by actor Alisa Khazanova offers dramatisation of the ‘last words’ of women accused of political crimes in Russian courts – outspoken messages in the courtroom being one of the last bastions of free speech in Putin’s Russia. Real life courtroom testimonies are combined with poems and excerpts from the memoirs of human rights activist and poet Natalya Gorbanevskaya and International Booker Prize nominee and Brücke Berlin winner Maria Stepanova.