I’m trying to document some of the musical and cultural things I’m doing on this blog. That was always the intent of Girlbandgeek, but as you know, we don’t always carry out all our plans. Anyway, I recently saw a performance by Pussy Riot Theatre of their piece “Revolution”. The piece was written by Masha Alyokhina, and produced by Sasha Cheparukhin. The performance included members of the band Asian Women on The Telephone as we as a member of the Belarus Free Theatre.
Masha is one of three infamous members of Pussy Riot who spent time in jail after performing anti-Putin song “Punk Prayer” in the Moscow Cathedral in 2012. Revolution documents their story using word, dance, music and images. I guess you could call it sort of a political rock opera. The words were all in Russian, which made it hard to follow at times, despite translations that were projected on a screen above the stage, along with photos, drawings and slogans that complemented the story.
It was a very powerful and exciting piece, which documented their story from before the performance in the cathedral, through their arrest, trial and imprisonment, and subsequent release. The music was percussive, funky and very well done. The parallels between the political situation in Russia, and what’s going on in the US with our current administration heightened the impact and relevancy of the piece significantly. Masha, Sasha and one of the musicians came back after the performance to answer questions, which was cool of them, but pretty cringeworthy as these things often are.
Anyway, I am totally awed by the bravery of the Pussy Riot collective in standing up to one of the most brutal and thuggish governments, and shining a light on the injustice and repression. I found it both inspiring and humbling. I feel very lucky that this performance came to our little podunk town!