Royal Court stages Pussy Riot-inspired event on 3 Nov

The Royal Court Theatre will host its own Pussy Riot on 3 November 2012, inspired by Russia’s feminist punk band who were jailed in August after staging an impromptu anti-Putin protest in Moscow’s main cathedral.

The afternoon event, which  will see writers, artists and performers come together to “bring the punk political spirit of the Pussy Riot to the Royal Court’s Wilson Studio for an afternoon of anarchic artistic expression”, inspired by Pussy Riot’s protest.

Back in August the Royal Court hosted a series of staged readings of translations of the statements of the three members of Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich.

The day will include new short plays by young British and Russian playwrights, including responses from EV Crowe, Yaroslava Pulinovich, Penelope Skinner, Hayley Squires and Yulia Yakovleva as well as performances of material from the Pussy Riot courtroom trial.

 
The afternoon will culminate in a debate on feminism in the arts, with playwright EV Crowe and journalist Vadim Nikitin in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, with more names to be announced.

Crowe, whose play Hero opens at the Royal Court on 23 November and first proposed the idea for the event, said: “Pussy Riot’s political art woke up sleeping feminists all over the world. They forced me to ask myself, am I a bit less ‘Pussy Riot’ and a bit more just pussy? It feels imperative to learn from their defiance, to respond actively, and above all else to not go back to sleep.”