An open letter, performed by Stacey Gregg
A collaboration between The Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival Theatre
“Beginning Monday, 23 September, I am going on hunger strike. This is an extreme method, but I am convinced that it is my only way out of my current situation.”
On August 17 2012, 21-year old Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was sentenced to two years imprisonment in Penal Colony No 14 in the Mordovian village of Parts. She was convicted along with Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina, fellow members of Pussy Riot. Charged with “premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility” all three pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers said that the circumstances of the case revived the Soviet-era tradition of the show trial.
In protest against the shocking ‘slavery-like’ conditions that she endures as a prisoner of Penal Colony No 14, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has written an extraordinary letter detailing her experiences there and explains why she has taken to staging a hunger strike until the prison authorities ‘start treating us like humans’.
Tolokonnikova’s letter was translated by Bela Shayevich and The Russian Reader
This event is a collaboration between The Bush Theatre and HighTide Festival Theatre.
Each performance will be followed by a platform event with guest speakers, supported by English PEN.
Event supported by Peter Wilson
Running Time | 1 hour
Tickets to this event are free but need to be booked through The Bush Theatre Box Office here or by telephone 020 8743 5050
