Boogie on the Bones

Inspired by real events and brought to life by the Slavic theatre collective WITHINTHEATRE — artists who left their homelands behind — Boogie on the Bones is a powerful story of love, music, and the price of freedom in post-Stalinist Russia.

The production dives into the vivid and little-known world of the Stilyagi — a rebellious youth subculture that emerged in 1955 Soviet Russia, just after Stalin’s death. It was a moment when the air briefly shifted, when grief mingled with possibility, and when a generation of young people dared to imagine a different life.

Boogie on the Bones follows the young rebels who refused to accept the greyness imposed on them by the regime. Inspired by fragments of Western culture smuggled through the Iron Curtain — jazz records etched onto medical X-ray scans, contraband film reels, whispered rumours — they invented their own version of freedom.

Bright jackets, forbidden dances, makeshift parties, dangerous joy: this was their act of defiance.

For WITHINTHEATRE’s ensemble, composed of artists from Slavic countries who left their homelands behind, this history resonates deeply. They know first-hand what it means to grow up under systems that police expression, ideas, and identity.

“There are disturbing echoes between what’s happening today and the Soviet Union in 1955,” reflects director and WITHINTHEATRE founder Sofia Barysevich — a Belarusian Lustrum Award winner whose production of 1984 earned critical praise at the Edinburgh Fringe.

“Back home, subcultures are dismantled, artists are censored, and people flee for survival, not opportunity. Boogie on the Bones asks: What does it really cost to be free?”