VRAG: STALIN'S NEW TRUTH

crew

director - Phil Willmott

writer - Ivantiy Novak

producer - Ivantiy Novak & Mohit Mathur

lighting designer - Eliska Van Lelyveld

cast

Rodnoi Ivanovich - Ivantiy Novak

Comrade Tchortov - Mohit Mathur

the project

A play written and produced for Riverside Studios in 2022. The story follows a night in the life of Rodnoi Ivanovich, the chief propaganda speechwriter for Stalin during the 1930s, as he receives a visitor from the NKVD informing him that the official party ‘truth’ has changed. 

Directed by Phil Willmott, I co-produced this play with Mohit Mathur within 3 weeks. We worked principally through Stanislavsky’s Active Analysis, Uta Hagen and Cis Berry, infusing elements of Vakhtangov and Michael Chekhov when the text demanded it. Establishing the right atmosphere was fundamental to the work, with concepts of memory, erosion of identity and loss being at the epicentre of the piece. 

The core challenge was finding the balance between threat, terror and relief; I wrote the play as a satire, borrowing a great deal from Mikhail Bulgakov, Grigori Gorin, Dario Fo, Evgeny Shwartz and Vladimir Vysotsky, with a deep emphasis on the absurdist elements of Stalin’s Great Terror. We worked a lot with rhythm, concentrating on the subtext and the ‘offbeat’ to find organic moments of laughter and fear, and utilised elements of clowning to highlight contradictions in the ‘official stories’ that the characters decide to tell themselves. 

cherry-picks

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ «really enjoyed this well acted and thought provoking play. The theme is highly relevant!» - Allan for Audience Club.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ «I booked this on impulse so I did not know what I was in for... I was talking to the woman next to me and we agreed the play was really about someone other than Stalin and today rather than 1930s ... There is one interesting test by the interrogator who holds up 3 spoons and asks for them to be identified. The middle sized spoon is defined as a desert spoon. Where upon the interrogator goes mad ranting about the starving masses who have never eaten dessert! I wonder if the writer could expand the play a little...» - Philippa for Audience Club.

★ ★ ★ ★ «if you can see it, do, it was short but kept your attention focused, both lead actors are wonderful» - Ken for Audience Club.

★ ★ ★ ★ «evoking parallels with current world events, this is a thought-provoking production energetically played by Novak and Mathur, that could - and should -lead to valuable debate about the role of political writers in dictatorial regimes» - Marion for Audience Club.

«there is a dreamlike quality to Vrag: Stalin's New Truth... in these politically turbulent times, it is important we are reminded of this terrible history» - Keith Mckenna for British Theatre Guide.