Bliss

by Fraser Grace

17 May - 11 June 2022

"It's good to see you’re alive. Good to know not all the ghosts in the streets are enemies..."

The world premiere

Russia, 1921: a small town on the River Potudan.

Nikita Firsov returns from the civil war to find that combat has changed him and his hometown alike. One thing, however, seems to have stayed the same: Lyuba, the strong-willed girl he remembers from his childhood.

As Lyuba and Nikita try to build a future together, they must pick their way through the unexploded ordnance and the ghosts of the lost to find tenderness in a desolate world.

Bliss is a tale of the shame of war, the potential of love, and the strength of the human spirit, based on a 1939 short story by the brilliant but little-known writer Andrey Platonov. Stalin hated Platonov – labelling him ‘scum’ – for portraying the truth of human experience under an authoritarian regime.

After a lifetime of censorship, Platonov’s work is now brought to a contemporary audience. This adaptation by award-winning playwright Fraser Grace (Breakfast with Mugabe; Royal Shakespeare Company / West End / Off-Broadway), finds intimate resonance in its portrayal of ordinary people searching for their elusive ‘bliss’ in the midst of catastrophe.

The matinee performance on Sunday, 5 June will be Enhanced by Extant. This means there will be live accessible programme notes and a touch tour describing the set, props and characters before the performance starts for visually impaired audiences. Please email generalmanager@finboroughtheatre.co.uk if you would like to attend the touch tour and programme notes, which will begin at 1pm.

On Thursday, 26 May there will be a post-show talk, after the performance of Bliss, which will take place in the theatre auditorium. Join playwright Fraser Grace and Philip Ross Bullock, Professor of Russian Literature and Music at the University of Oxford, as they discuss Platonov’s work and how he has inspired other writers in his own time and ours. Invitation to this event is included with the cost of your ticket.

COVID SAFE
As an intimate theatre venue, we are taking every possible precaution to ensure the safety of performers, staff, and audience members during the current pandemic. Audience members will be temperature-checked upon their arrival at the theatre, and masks are mandatory at all times, including during the performance. Our staff will be wearing masks for audience members’ safety as well as their own. In order to ensure that the Finborough Theatre is still accessible for those who are CEV (Clinically Extremely Vulnerable) or who would just prefer it, all Sunday matinee performances are Covid Pass Sundays when we will ask for proof of vaccination as well as mask wearing. We have reduced our audience capacity to 80% and temporarily increased our ticket prices to reflect this. We have been reviewing these protocols every month and will lift them as soon as it is safe to do so. For full information, please visit our Covid-19 policy page.

About The Playwright Fraser Grace

Playwright Fraser Grace’s first play Perpetua was joint winner of the Verity Bargate Award, and his best-known work, Breakfast with Mugabe, was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre, Stratford–Upon-Avon, where it won the John Whiting Award for Best New Play and a Silver Sony Award when broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and the World Service – all directed by Antony Sher. Breakfast with Mugabe has since been revived in the UK and in the USA, where it was again shortlisted Off-Broadway for The Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play. His other plays include Always Orange (The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon), Kalashnikov: In the Woods by the Lake (National Tour), Tongues (Menagerie National Tour), King David Man of Blood (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), The Lifesavers, nominated for TMA award for Best New Play (Mercury Theatre, Colchester, and Theatre503), Frobisher's Gold with Janet Suzman (Shaw Theatre), Who Killed Mr Drum (Riverside Studios), Gifts of War (Menagerie at Theatre503), and Perpetua, joint winner of the Verity Bargate Award (Soho Theatre and Birmingham Rep).

About The Writer Andrey Platonov

Andrey Platonov (1899-1951) was a Soviet existentialist writer. Although he was a Communist, most of his works were banned in his lifetime because of their sceptical attitude towards collectivisation and Stalinist policies, as well as their experimental, avant-garde form. His most famous novel is The Foundation Pit, but since his death his novel Soul has emerged as one of the favourite novels of contemporary Russia. Platonov welcomed the Bolshevik Revolution, joining the Communist Party in 1920. It is unclear whether he took part in active fighting in the Civil War, but he was certainly attached to the Red Army as a journalist. From 1922, he worked on the railways as an electrical engineer in the province of Voronezh where The River Potudan is set. He moved to Moscow in 1927, living there until his death. He wrote prolifically, except for a period of five years when he abandoned writing to work as an engineer, stating that he could not spend his time “just contemplating”. Stalin was ambivalent to Platonov's worth, calling him “a fool, idiot and scoundrel,” but then later describing him as “a prophet and genius”. Tatyana Tolstoya described him as “an extraordinary writer, perhaps the most brilliant writer of the 20th century”.

About The Director and Designer Paul Bourne

Director and Designer Paul Bourne is Artistic Director of Menagerie in Cambridge, as well as Co-Artistic Director of Divadlo 6-16 (Prague), Associate Director of the Meyerhold Theatre (Moscow), and Associate Artist of the Platonov Festival (Voronezh, Russia). Direction and Designing includes Frobisher's Gold (Shaw Theatre), Stand By Your Van (Pleasance Edinburgh), Egusi Soup (Soho Theatre, Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse), Out of Your Knowledge (National Tour), Swimming (Pleasance Edinburgh), In The White Highlands (Soho Theatre), Hard Sell (Theatre503 and Jatka 78, Prague), Animal Farm (Voronezh Theatre, Russia) and Correspondence (Jatka 78, Prague).

About The Company Menagerie

Menagerie is a 20-year award-winning new writing theatre company based at The Cambridge Junction. Its international co-productions of plays – including work by Steve Waters, Janice Okoh, Tim Etchells, Fraser Grace and Naomi Wallace – have been seen  in Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, St Petersburg, New York, Prague, Frankfurt, Belgrade and Voronezh, Russia.

The press on playwright Fraser Grace

On Breakfast With Mugabe at the Royal Shakespeare Company
“Short, tense and devastating.” Kate Kellaway, The Observer
“There's black comedy and a ticking tension in the power-play between the two men.” Paul Taylor, The Independent
“We are often told that political theatre is one-sided, partial and unfair. But I recommend the sceptics to take a look at Fraser Grace's compelling 90-minute play.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Fraser Grace’s taut meditation on guilt and power…in Mr Grace’s capable hands, Mugabe rightfully deserves a seat alongside Macbeth, Richard III and other tragic, power-siphoning Shakespearean anti-heroes.” Catherine Rampell, New York Times

On The Lifesavers at Theatre503
“Anyone interested in child-protection issues, or who simply craves an ingenious, thought-provoking night out on the fringe, should see this.” Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
“Grace...is a fiercely intelligent writer, and this is a gripping play.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
“In the anxiety that gives his writing a shuddering energy, he catches something of the mood of our own uncertain times.” Sam Marlowe, The Times

On Perpetua at Birmingham Rep
“Fraser Grace's play won the Verity Bargate Award, and a worthy winner it proves to be…this drama has got you by the throat and is squeezing hard.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
“A gripping play...I don't remember the last time my heart was in my mouth as much as it is here…as the first major for this writer it marks the arrival of a significant talent.” The Birmingham Post

The press on Director Paul Bourne

For Hotbed at Theatre503
“The evening is a mini theatrical treat; sometimes good things come in small packages.” British Theatre Guide
“Witty scripts directed and delivered with energy and style.” Evening Standard
“A dizzying trio of comical, moving and sometimes disconcerting pieces.” West End Wilma
“Fast and furious.” WhatsOnStage
“A night of theatre that is fast paced, innovative, and inspiring.” One Stop Arts

For Why Can’t We Live Together?
“A beautifully simple script that exposes the fragility of love and marriage.” British Theatre Guide
“The writing is crisp and witty and the timing is impeccable in this fast-paced show.” UK Theatrenet

For Somniloquy
“Eerily beautiful and oddly poetic.” Time Out
“A brilliantly twisty piece. It’s funny, it’s thought-provoking and it’s worth the price of admission alone.” WhatsOnStage

For How to Begin
“A joy and thrillingly refreshing.” Reviewsgate

The press on Bliss

★★★★ Four Stars, The Understudy
★★★★ Four Stars, North West End UK
★★★★ Four Stars, London Theatre Reviews
★★★★ Four Stars, London Living Large

“As ever, this venue is willing to take a chance on new and challenging work - a laudable service to theatre especially in the aftershock of the pandemic.” Gary Naylor, Broadway World

“A production that continues in the Finborough's tradition of mounting high-quality theatre.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“A magnetic play.” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“The intimate performance space of Finborough Theatre assists in binding the audience to the characters on stage.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

“A very fine piece of theatre, in the tradition of Russian drama, which is well worth seeing.” Paul Ackroyd, North West End

“Packs a poignant punch.” Laura De Lisle, Arts Desk

“From the dust on Nikita’s jacket rising as it is dislodged to the precision with which the Tramp – played by Jeremy Killick – finds their space within the chaos, every detail has been curated to accompany the intimacy of the Finborough Theatre’s design.” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“Undeniably topical.” William Russell, Reviewsgate

“Stalin hated Platonov – labelling him ‘scum’ – for portraying the truth of human experience under an authoritarian regime. So, how the story survived to reach a contemporary audience is beyond impressive!” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“Themes of the effects of war on soldiers and civilians have been fertile ground for drama…Bliss feels like a worthy addition to the canon.” Scott Matthewman, The Reviews Hub

“Fraser Grace has transformed a 1939 short story by Andrey Platonov into a bleak tragedy which…is certainly moving.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

“The dark tone is enhanced by Jeremy Killick casting an ominous presence as a tramp…Director Paul Bourne handles the ambiguity around the character well, helped by Killick’s silently domineering portrayal.” Scott Matthewman, The Reviews Hub

“Jeremy Killick packs plenty of eerie menace into his ghostly tramp and later when doubling as The Investigator.” Gary Naylor, Broadway World

“Killick…an intense and unsettling presence.” Dave B, Everything Theatre

“Jeremy Killick as both the the symbolic tramp and the Investigator is suitably menacing.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“Played with menace by Jeremy Killick.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

“Rutherford does an excellent job.” Dave B, Everything Theatre

“Intense performances, with Rutherford in particular radiating torment.” Kate Wyver, The Guardian

“Rutherford casts a haunting presence.” Scott Matthewman, The Reviews Hub

“Rutherford is well cast.” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“Jesse Rutherford is positively haunting.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“Roche is wrapped into the world of the play down to the detail of their little finger quivering.” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“Bess Roche does a terrific job.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“Bess Roche captures Lyuba's desires and fears.” Gary Naylor, Broadway World

“Patrick Morris deserves especial praise for his portrayal of Mikhail.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

“Morris is also superb alongside Caroline Rippin as Vlass and Paulina respectively.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

“Patrick Morris…does an excellent job.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“The acting was universally excellent.” Paul Ackroyd, North West End

“Very well supported by the other three members of the cast: Jeremy Killick, Caroline Rippin and Patrick Morris, who doubled as the other characters.” Paul Ackroyd, North West End

“As Zhenya and Paulina, Caroline Rippin is quite amazing in her ability to transform herself into two such dissimilar characters.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“Rippin’s transformation from gently teasing Zhenya to rough-and-ready Paulina is impressive.” Laura De Lisle, Arts Desk

“Very well acted.” William Russell, Reviewsgate

“A beautifully acted piece.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“Well acted.” Gary Naylor, Broadway World

“Bourne’s detail in direction is captivating.” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“Director and designer, Paul Bourne, has given us a fine rendering of Nikita's long, dark, journey.” Jim Cooke, London Living Large

“The costumes are particularly impressive.” Gary Naylor, Broadway World

“Sound designer Michaela Polakova’s evocative score.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

“Further visceral response is elicited from Michaela Polakova’s composition and sound design.” Sebastian Calver, London Theatre Reviews

“Ash Day’s lighting design is simple but effective.” Chris Dobson, The Understudy

17 May - 11 June 2022

Tickets and Times

Tuesday 7:30pm
Wednesday 7:30pm
Thursday 7:30pm
Friday 7:30pm
Saturday 3:00pm
7:30pm
Sunday 3:00pm

Approximately two hours and thirty minutes with one interval of fifteen minutes