"The Patriots" on Broadway
On Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, The Patriots is a play about the modern-day rise of a Russian dictator, directed by Rupert Gould and written by Peter Morgan, the creator of Netflix's The Crown. The main character of the play is billionaire Boris Berezovsky (Michael Stuhlbarg), who helped the ascension to the throne of the previously unknown Vladimir Putin, who has since firmly occupied the helm of post-Soviet Russia. Will Keane (V. Putin) and Michael Stuhlbarg (B. Berezovsky) transform into an oligarch and dictator in the greatest way on stage.
Boris Berezovsky began his eventful professional life as a little-known Soviet mathematician. After the fall of communism, he became the most famous of the post-Soviet oligarchs, making billions from oil and mass media. His access to and influence over Boris Yeltsin reminded some of Grigory Rasputin. In 1996, with Yeltsin weakened by heart problems and alcoholism, Berezovsky and other oligarchs orchestrated his re-election. In exchange, Yeltsin held sham auctions to privatize huge state-owned enterprises, which Berezovsky and his allies “won.” At one point, Berezovsky nominated Vladimir Putin, a mid-level KGB officer, to the forefront of Kremlin politics. When Putin was allowed to power after Yeltsin, Berezovsky had every reason to believe that Putin would be as obedient as Yeltsin, and this turned out to be a fatal miscalculation. Berezovsky tried to organize information and business opposition, warning of an "authoritarian regime." He exiled himself to England, where he opposed his former protégé and survived several assassination attempts. In 2013, he was found hanged in his bathroom.
"Berezovsky accepted Putin for who he was, or at least as he presented himself," actor Michael Stuhlbarg said recently. In The Patriots, Stuhlbarg plays Berezovsky: wild, twisted and melodramatic.
Keen watched a lot of videos of Putin. "There's a video of him playing table tennis on holiday, it looks pretty awkward," Keene says as veal dumplings are placed in front of him. He was intrigued by Putin's "little ironic smile." "Body-wise, everyone talks about how his left arm swings while his right arm stays at his hip, which appears to be a KGB move. There are theories that it has to do with keeping his arm ready to fire."
Keane continued to play the role of the Russian dictator in the play even when Putin's power became more sinister: the war in Ukraine, the death of Alexei Navalny. Stuhlbarg suggested that Berezovsky would be "furiously angry that this little man is still in office."
The day before the play opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on West 47, Stuhlbarg was jogging when he was hit in the head with a rock by a stranger. Stuhlbarg tried to take a photo and the police arrested the suspect at the Russian consulate - how ironic! Despite the bruises, Stuhlbarg performed for the first time on opening night the next day. "It was a very shocking incident. And the place where he hit me really hurt," he said. "Suddenly, emotions start coming out of you. And where better to apply them than in this such a ferocious play?"
In 1994, Berezovsky survived a car explosion. Stuhlbarg described the "strange parallelism" of the running attack with "what Boris goes through in the play when the killers blow up the car." He continued: "Boris felt like he had a second chance at life. And in a way, that's what I experienced, this opportunity to have another chance at life or another opportunity to do a play. I'm so grateful to be alive." ".
You can get to the performance only until June 23, and with the help of the Cherry Orchard festival you can get a discount on the best tickets by using the code CHERRY24 when purchasing on Telecharge. Link to tickets at cherryorchardfestival.org
https://cherryorchardfestival . org/2024_patriots_new-york
