Riot Days - a story of resistance, repression and revolution in a mixture of concert, rally, theatre and political happening
"New revolutionary electronic punk opera"
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Riot Days is a play based on the eponymous Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina's book. It's a story of resistance, repression and revolution in a mixture of concert, rally, theatre and political happening.
The show has toured all over the world, it gave more than 200 performances in most of Europe, USA, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand and has received prestigious international awards, including Herald Angel Award, Lustrum Award and Total Theatre Award of Edinburgh Festivals.
Line Up 2023:
ABOUT THE BOOK
A Maria Alyokhina's riveting account of her years in Russia’s criminal system and of finding power in the most powerless of situations.
In February 2012 Pussy Riot performed a "punk prayer", taking on the Orthodox church and its support for Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime. For this, they were charged with "organized hooliganism". That trial became an international cause.
Alyokhina's two-year sentence launched a bitter struggle against the Russian prison system and an iron-willed refusal to be deprived of her humanity.
RIOT DAYS - BACKGROUND:
In December 2016 Maria Alyokhina and music producer Alexander Cheparukhin started a new project - PUSSY RIOT performs RIOT DAYS - a play based on Alyokhina's book "RIOT DAYS" (was to be published in summer 2017 by Penguin Books in the US in autumn 2017 By Metropolitan Books). Worldwide publications followed as far as Japan and Australia!
The project is produced by Alexander Cheparukhin and directed by Yury Muravitsky - of the leading Russian theatre directors, and winner of the "Golden Mask" annual Russian theatre contract.
"Riot Days" is performed worldwide. The German premiere was in September 2017 in Frankfurt/Mousonturm. Since then they have played at about 30 concerts in Germany and Austria.
Recently, the European Court of Justice awarded damages to the three main protagonists. It is doubtful whether Putin will pay compensation for the imprisonment. The protests at the World Cup showed that the issue of human rights is just as topical as it was a few years ago. In the spring of 2021, Masha Alyokhina was put on electronic shackles. In 2021-2022, Maria Alyokhina spent more than a year in prison and under house arrest for posting on social media in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned by Putin's regime and subsequently imprisoned.
The Spring Tour 22 in Europe is one success story. After Masha's escape, there was worldwide coverage, also in connection with the protest against Putin and the Ukraine war, triggered by an exclusive interview in the New York Times. Talk shows followed throughout Europe and in Germany the highlight was an interview with Ingo Zamparoni on Tagesthemen as well as contributions to N3, 3 Sat, Arte, TTT and private TV stations.
An important concern of the members of Pussy Riot is to support Ukraine.
In their program, the band calls for support for a children's hospital in Kiev. They themselves donate the majority of their merchandise revenue to this hospital.
In 2023 they did 2 sold out shows in Icelands national theatre, will go to US to receive the Guthrie Award in early May 2023, and then perform 15 shows in Europe
LINEUP:
Group Size: 5 Artists + 1 sound engineer
Maria (Masha) Alyokhina - author, actress - Main Pussy Riot activist and voice of the collective, she was one of the Punk Prayer performers and for more than 3 years in prison.
Diana Burkot (Kot) - singer, actress, electronics, drums
(Diana is one of the founding members of Pussy Riot, she was one of Punk Prayer performers in the Cathedral)
Olga Borisova - actress, singer, Riot Days book editor
Tasso Pletner – actress, singer, flute
Crew:
Vasily Bogatov – video
Alexander Cheparukhin - producer, subtitles
Press quotes
"New revolutionary electronic punk opera"
- SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
"It’s impossible to look away. Powerful and exhilarating"
- THE GUARDIAN
"Swaggering, throbbing gig. Clever and enthralling"
- THE TIMES
"Full of fierce, rousing joy, free of scripted cues ... Poetic, razor-sharp and disarmingly witty ... Riot Days convinced me that gigs still have the power to move the masses"
- CHARLOTTE RICHARDSON ANDREWS
"Darkly humorous, while intelligent lyrics paint a bleak representation of years of suppressed activism"
- LOUD AND QUIET
"Stunning audio-visual experience ... Inventive, passionate, darkly funny in parts, twitching with energy and intelligent defiance and anger and yet full of compassion this is a moral tale for our times ... Delivered with an intense brilliance"
- LOUDER THAN WAR
"Far from being a conventional gig, it is instead a hard-hitting, punk spirited and encapsulating piece of art theatre"
- THE ARGUS
"It went down a storm"
BRIGHTON NEWS
"A women's prison memoir like no other"
- MARGARET ATWOOD
"There is no doubt that the absolutely obscene actions that take place on stage, containing insults of Russia and its leadership, have nothing to do with culture or art"
RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN SWITZERLAND
"A women's prison memoir like no other"
- MARGARET ATWOOD
"A women's prison memoir like no other"
- MARGARET ATWOOD
"A pacy page-turner … A piece of art in itself"
-THE GUARDIAN
"Brilliantly written you are completely disarmed, unable to put it down until the last page"
- MARINA ABRAMOVIC
"Raw and restless ... Captures a moment when change seemed possible"
- THE TELEGRAPH
"A future cult classic"
- VOGUE
"A bold, urgent account of activism and imprisonment by a member of Pussy Riot"
- THE FINANCIAL TIMES
"Extraordinary... A powerful and poignant prison diary"
- THE IRISH TIMES
"Brilliant and inspiring. This book is freedom"
- CHRIS KRAUS
Riot Days - a story of resistance, repression and revolution in a mixture of concert, rally, theatre and political happening
"New revolutionary electronic punk opera" SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Riot Days is a play based on the eponymous Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina's book. It's a story of resistance, repression and revolution in a mixture of concert, rally, theatre and political happening.
The show has toured all over the world, it gave more than 200 performances in most of Europe, USA, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand and has received prestigious international awards, including Herald Angel Award, Lustrum Award and Total Theatre Award of Edinburgh Festivals.
Line Up 2023:
ABOUT THE BOOK A Maria Alyokhina's riveting account of her years in Russia’s criminal system and of finding power in the most powerless of situations. In February 2012 Pussy Riot performed a "punk prayer", taking on the Orthodox church and its support for Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime. For this, they were charged with "organized hooliganism". That trial became an international cause. Alyokhina's two-year sentence launched a bitter struggle against the Russian prison system and an iron-willed refusal to be deprived of her humanity.
RIOT DAYS - BACKGROUND: In December 2016 Maria Alyokhina and music producer Alexander Cheparukhin started a new project - PUSSY RIOT performs RIOT DAYS - a play based on Alyokhina's book "RIOT DAYS" (was to be published in summer 2017 by Penguin Books in the US in autumn 2017 By Metropolitan Books). Worldwide publications followed as far as Japan and Australia!
The project is produced by Alexander Cheparukhin and directed by Yury Muravitsky - of the leading Russian theatre directors, and winner of the "Golden Mask" annual Russian theatre contract. "Riot Days" is performed worldwide. The German premiere was in September 2017 in Frankfurt/Mousonturm. Since then they have played at about 30 concerts in Germany and Austria.
Recently, the European Court of Justice awarded damages to the three main protagonists. It is doubtful whether Putin will pay compensation for the imprisonment. The protests at the World Cup showed that the issue of human rights is just as topical as it was a few years ago. In the spring of 2021, Masha Alyokhina was put on electronic shackles. In 2021-2022, Maria Alyokhina spent more than a year in prison and under house arrest for posting on social media in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned by Putin's regime and subsequently imprisoned.
The Spring Tour 22 in Europe is one success story. After Masha's escape, there was worldwide coverage, also in connection with the protest against Putin and the Ukraine war, triggered by an exclusive interview in the New York Times. Talk shows followed throughout Europe and in Germany the highlight was an interview with Ingo Zamparoni on Tagesthemen as well as contributions to N3, 3 Sat, Arte, TTT and private TV stations.
An important concern of the members of Pussy Riot is to support Ukraine. In their program, the band calls for support for a children's hospital in Kiev. They themselves donate the majority of their merchandise revenue to this hospital.
In 2023 they did 2 sold out shows in Icelands national theatre, will go to US to receive the Guthrie Award in early May 2023, and then perform 15 shows in Europe
LINEUP:
Group Size: 5 Artists + 1 sound engineerCrew: