The Last Word at Marylebone Theatre.In THE LAST WORD, the voices of Russian women who have been imprisoned by their own autocratic government for protesting and challenging the state narrative, express their outrage and anguish. They speak to the truth of men’s ignorance in incarcerating women who protest against oppression, and the ease with which such modern-day apparatchiks resort to using the tools of state in suppressing any and all forms of free thought and anti-war dialogue.
Based on an idea by Alisa Khazanova who performs the piece with the help of physical performance artist Ivan Ivashkin, the text is written by Anna Narinskaya (based largely on courtroom statements) and is part theatre performance and part art installation with its projections of factual information around the narrative contributions, poetry and additional onstage imagery gleaned from static and body mounted cameras.
This is theatre with a serious political message and humanity at its core. Moments are beautiful and intense, others tax the patience and appetite for didactic messaging. Overall, the production’s significance lies in the stories of nine women* who have been treated so appallingly by courts, interrogators and regional judges who are either intent on presenting the state (and its illustrious soviet predecessor) as the saviour of the people, or too scared to refute the diktats from Moscow’s ruling politburo.
There are insightful observations and moments of hushed sensitivity, yet overall the feeling one is left with, is the seeming futility of opposition when faced with such overwhelming and terrifying centralised power. Interestingly, Alexander J Gifford the artistic director at the venue encourages attendees of the performance to dig deeper into the rottenness of the current East European situation, by examining the equally toxic behaviours of American and European leaders in promoting the expansion of NATO, which has proved so antagonistic to Putin. It is salutary to be reminded that good and evil are everywhere and not limited to individuals, or indeed individual nations or orthodoxies.
Finally, after the last words of THE LAST WORD have seemingly been uttered and the performers have taken their bows with suitably grave expressions, one last poem is read and a roll call of some 85 names of women who have been declared “wanted” in absentia, accused of a multitude of trumped-up crimes, or imprisoned in cramped and illegal cells, is slowly projected. The audience — undoubtedly out of respect and an unwillingness to be perceived as insensitive or uncaring — remains seated and silent, but along with the miserable reality such a list presents, there is a tangible sense of relief when finally the lights come up and we are permitted to indulge in the freedoms which so many of us take for granted.
* The nine women whose statements form the foundations of the piece - Alla Gutnikova, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Zarifa Sautieva, Yulia Tsvetkova, Sacha Skochilenko, Maria Alyokhina & Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (of Pussy Riot), Anastasia Shevchenko and Yulia Galyamina.
