1950s Moscow, a Young Communist League meeting. Comrades, it is our responsibility. No traitor must infiltrate the clean minds of our motherland. This is what Katya (Olga Pipchanka), tells us as the show begins.
The audience are complicit in the biased trial of Mels (Andrii Zamiatinman), a faithful Soviet comrade turned traitor by the beguiling flirtation of a red-lipped, red-legged stilyagi (pthu, what a disgrace).
What is a stilyagi, you ask? A literal translation being ‘hipster,’ the truth of it is revealed in this whirlwind of a show. A stilyagi is pure swag, slicked back hair, technicolour ties. Jazz in a person, if that person was a teenage Moscovite in the 50s, hiding their X-ray Jazz discs from their mother.
But what happens when a stilyagi must face the grey reality? The thick, unflattering Soviet fabric that muffles any form of self-expression?
Beautifully directed and choreographed by Sofia Barysevich and Anna Korzik, this show explores the edge between teenage hedonism and destruction. The reinterpretation of the 2008 film ‘Stilyagi’ is an effective and poignant one, compacted into one hour of grooving, romance and tragedy.
The staging is rife with symbolism. Katya is Mels’ Soviet conscience on his right shoulder, occasionally narrating his clearly pure, Soviet intentions. Soon, however, Mels is lost to anti-Soviet propaganda. Furthermore, grey and multicolour, the two sides of 50’s Moscow adolescence are shown through perceptive costume changes, in which we see the development of each persona shift subtly but effectively.
As someone who grew up understanding the cultural references of cluttered Soviet apartments, strict Soviet mothers and the ever-present terror of political suppression, this drew me into a familiar world. However, for this to be accessible to a non-slavic audience perhaps more clarification would be needed – the use of Russian within the show could have been subtitled in order to provide clarity. The dynamic control also needs balancing, the music often overpowering the dialogue.
However, the effect of the show remains undiminished. The final images on the projector skip from the past to the present, showcasing the current violent suppression of Russia’s political youth. The tears in the eyes of the actors feel all too real and make us question: Will Russia ever change its tune? Or does history repeat itself even now, more than 70 years later?
Boogie on the Bones is running until August 31st on Anatomy Lecture Theatre at Summerhall. Buy tickets here.
Image credits to WithinTheatre Company.
