“Alexander Litvinenko is going to die.”
Alexander Litvinenko died in November 2006, four days after my twentieth birthday. As someone who was painfully unaware of current affairs until well into my twenties, I had never heard of him until I was asked to review one of Oxford Playhouse’s ‘Plays Out’, a production by the Nottingham-based 2Magpies Theatre company entitled The Litvinenko Project. In preparation, I searched online and discovered the astonishing story of Alexander Litvinenko, and then, suddenly, his name was everywhere, cropping up in news articles on the radio and TV as, on January 27th 2015, the British government launched a public inquiry into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of an ex-Russian spy, a British citizen on British soil, including investigating the possibility that he had been poisoned by Russia’s government.
This play could hardly be timelier. With the public inquiry in every news bulletin, it is hardly surprising to find that this show has sold out very quickly. Entering the upstairs room of Oxford’s Turl Street Kitchen, an audience of about 30 people takes seats in sofas and armchairs around the room. Low tables in front of us hold china cups and teapots. We sip Gunpowder Green tea and as the room falls silent, the play begins.
Tom Barnes and Matt Wilkes of 2Magpies are actually graduates in International Security and Terrorism Studies, so their aim in putting on The Litvinenko Project is to encourage people who, like me, have no knowledge of the events surrounding Litvinenko’s death to take notice, perhaps to ask some questions about governmental politics and media coverage. Barnes and Wilkes take on the two-handed play with skill and gusto, using a space of about 3 metres square to portray the movements of Litvinenko on the day he was poisoned. From breakfast at his flat, to a dance class, to Itsu Sushi bar in Piccadilly Circus, the actors take the audience on a short but memorable journey in an attempt to understand what might have happened a few days before Litvinenko’s death from radiation poisoning. Using a mop, a raw chicken, yards of wool, and numerous cups of tea, 2Magpies do exactly what they set out to do – engage the audience, make us wonder, and (for this audience member, at least) go home and find out a little bit more about the Litvinenko Inquiry and what it will mean for international relations and personal freedoms. A stunning, engaging, and unusual piece that well deserves more attention! ★★★★★ @BookingAround 06/02/15
