Silent Planet
by Eve Leigh
by Eve Leigh
Silent Planet is a poignant exploration of the power of literature and storytelling as a means of resistance in a Soviet mental prison during the Cold War.
About The Play
About The Play
★★★★ Guardian
The world premiere of a first play by an exciting new playwright.
At the height of the Cold War, dissident writer Gavriil is detained in a Soviet mental prison as a punishment for protesting against the government. His only escape is the prison library, a treasure store of banned literature available to the patients, but off-limits to the prison staff. His interrogator, Yurchak, offers to protect him from torture in exchange for sharing the forbidden stories. Their agreement will help them both find a kind of freedom, at the risk of their lives.
Inspired by an incident in the life of writer, activist and neurophysiologist Vladimir Bukovsky, Silent Planet is a love story about our love of stories, a passionate and poetic fable about the power of literature in a world in which the wrong words can get you killed.
Silent Planet is Eve Leigh’s first full length play. It is directed by Tom Mansfield, Artistic Director of Upstart and director of the critically acclaimed The Situation Room and Oh Well Never Mind Bye.