[ATTENDED: December 3, 2023] Pussy Riot
I have known about Pussy Riot since the days that they were arrested by Vladimir Putin back in
The Wikipedia page sums them up like this
Founded in the fall of 2011 by 22 year old Nadya Tolokonnikova, it has had a membership of approximately 11 women. The group staged unauthorized, provocative guerrilla gigs in public places. These performances were filmed as music videos and posted on the internet. The group’s lyrical themes included feminism, LGBT rights, opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies, and Putin’s links to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
But before the show, the tour’s producer came out on stage and told us that Pussy Riot was never a band and certainly not a punk band. They were an art collective. Yes, some were musicians but most were not.
This performance is a kind of live retelling of what happened to specifically one of the women who was arrested by Putin.
Five members of the group staged a performance inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on February 21, 2012. The protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leaders’ support for Putin during his election campaign. The group’s actions were condemned as sacrilegious by the Orthodox clergy and eventually stopped by church security officials. On March 3, 2012, two of the group’s members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism.
The producer told us that prior to this event, artists were largely protected in Russia. There was a political protest by the group Voina who painted a giant penis on a drawbridge to protest the economic forum. (Read about it here). Nadya Tolokonnikova and her husband, Pyotr Verzilov, were members of the anarchist art collective “Voina.”
This prank actually earned the collective a prize for best political statement. From the New York Times:
The radical art collective Voina has won a contemporary art award sponsored by Russia’s Ministry of Culture and the National Center for Contemporary Art for a project that consisted of a 210-foot penis painted on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg, said Andrei V. Yerofeyev, a member of the jury that awarded the prize.
And yet, the Pussy Riot demonstration in the church was branded hooliganism. The producer told us that normally the punishment would be to clean up the church and make general amends. Instead, through Putin’s pressure, they were jailed for two years.
Tolokonnikova was not at our show, she is doing something else.
Riot Days was written by Maria Alyokhina and tells her story from starting the church protest through her arrest and imprisonment.
Alyokhina played an active role in the Pussy Riot trial, cross-examining witnesses, and aggressively questioning the charges and proceedings. She said in her closing statement:
For me, this trial only has the status of a “so-called” trial. And I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid of lies and fiction, of the thinly disguised fraud in the sentence of this so-called court. Because you can only take away my so-called freedom. And that is the exact kind that exists now in Russia. But nobody can take away my inner freedom.
In April 2022, Alyokhina fled Russia in the back of a series of cars after officials announced she would be sentenced to time in a penal colony instead of remaining on house arrest.
She has been granted citizenship in Iceland.
And she led the performance. Her physical presence and defiance were palpable.
Next to her on stage was Olga Borisova, editor of the Riot Days book, performer, singer. Political activist, ex-policewoman in Russia, quit her job to protest against the regime.
Borisova was a co-lead singer and antagonist–getting in Masha’s and at one point throwing water onto the audience.
Shown behind the band was a series of film clips that documented events that happened as well as news stories about the events. Masha and Olga chanted and sang over the images and someone was presenting English language translations at the bottom of the screen.
On either side of the two women were Diana Burkot, on synths [Performer, composer, singer, musician: drums, keyboards. Political activist, participated in “punk prayer” action. Performs solo project called Rosemary Loves A Blackberry] and Alina Petrova on violin [Performer, composer, multi-instrumentalist. The co-founder of the Kymatic ensemble, an outstanding group of young musicians dedicated to developing performance practices in the post-modern academic music field].
When the show started, Alina came out and looped her violin in a dramatic way. Then Diana came out and added synths to really flesh out the music. Soon after, Masha and Olga came out in balaklavas, the videos started scrolling and the women began chanting/reciting/singing.
All four women sang at times and at other times, one or two of them did a particular action, whether it was stomping the front of the stage, doing exercise in prison or, as I said, throwing water on us.
It was all very powerful and effective. I felt uncomfortable at times–Masha’s stare was really intense and it was odd to think that she had been through all of this and was here “performing” for us. But the performance was telling her story, and getting all of us inspired and horrified by what happened and determined not to let freedom be sucked away for us either.
This is an amazing show and I’d love if more people saw it.
I know I’ll be reading the book on which it is based. I’m only a little sad that they didn’t have any copies of the book (they were delayed in customs), so I had to buy a used copy.
SOUNDTRACK:
