Vanya Is Alive

This is the in-person show at the Space, to book for the online livestreamed event please click here.

A mother of a mobilised Russian soldier plunges into the abyss as she struggles to comb through state propaganda and lies. Where lie the limits of personal responsibility? Can an individual stand up against the system? Echoing the actual political situation in Russia, this dark tale reflects on the price of truth and freedom with a touch of absurdity and disarming sincerity. A look at the country grappling with the reality of war and repressions. 

Written in March 2022, Vanya Is Alive is considered to be the most important play in Russian since the start of the full-scale invasion. The show was premiered in August 2023 at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. It won the audience recognition and received excellent reviews from renowned media outlets such as The Financial Times, The Scotsman, The Edinburgh Reporter and many others. Presented by Russian artists in exile due to their anti-war position. 

Reviews

THE FINANCIAL TIMES ★★★★ 
In Nataliya Lizorkina’s succinct, subtle and strikingly absurdist new play, leanly directed by Ivanka Polchenko, the audience is pulled into the lies and repression of an authoritarian regime, through (the protagonist’s) descent from denial to grief to prison.  

THE EDINBURGH REPORTER ★★★★★ 
A tour de force by actor Nikolay Mulakov. 
A modern tragic tale, told by Russian artists in exile in 2023. 

THE SKINNY ★★★★★ 
Unsettling, heart-breaking and remarkably compelling.
Lizorkina’s excellent script effortlessly balances the intimacy of the central story with an existential universality.  

BROADWAY WORLD ★★★★ 
A story told through the lens of pure authenticity. 
Vanya Is Alive is not just important; it is something that everyone needs to be aware of right now.  

THE WEE REVIEW ★★★★ 
Unsettling play demands a lot from its audience, but delivers a point well made. 

THE THEATRE TIMES 
This is theatre at its best – a lone voice in the dark, moving against the tide. 

Moscow-born Ivanka Polchenko is a theatre director based in Paris. She trained with members of Peter Brook’s company CICT and worked on numerous international theatre projects (Greece, Italy, France). In her own theatre works, she explores the questions of language and storytelling where actor becomes a co-creator of the play. 

Ukraine-born Nikolay Mulakov graduated from GITIS Institute of Theatre Arts in Moscow and spent last 10 years playing leading roles in the Moscow opposition theatre Teatr.doc. Since 2023, he resides in London where he develops his own theatre projects.

Cast and Creatives

Writer: Natalia Lizorkina
Director: Ivanka Polchenko
Performers: Nikolay Mulakov

Website: https://oeil-episse.weebly.com/vanya-is-alive.html
Photo credits: Vlada Nebo