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The King’s Head Theatre welcomed in the new year with the World Premiere of Firebird, which is the great combination of the memoir of Sergey Fetisov and the movie Firebird by Peeter Rebane and Tom Prior. Writer Richard Hough served the story almost perfectly with giving a live perspective of two men in love in a Cold-War context, under Soviet Union. More than a political play, we are watching a romance that has to hide and compromise. But, there is nothing that can stop it, not even death.
Robert Eades plays Roman, the one that has to stay on the line, to fit in the box. He has to fight for “HIS” country but his fight is more like a flight instead of not facing the impossible secret relationship between him and Sergey, that will become an inherent truth to all the characters, whether they talk about it or not. The more he tries to avoid it the more Roman is closer to Sergey.
Theo Walker embodies Sergey, a soldier that is here out of choice and opportunities. His thing is Shakespeare, not the war. He his the one that brings the truth under light often but he will be shut down by Alexei Kuznetsov, played by Nigel Hastings. Alexei is the military chief soviet stereotype, he embodies conservatism, family, marriage. He does know what’s happening between Sergey and Roman and when he does he tries to prevent it from going on, from existing.
Sorcha Kennedy played by Luisa Jannsen, is the anchor between all of these characters. She is the friend, the wife, the secretary, the confident. Which is very clear looking at how on stage her character was often between the doors, whether it was the door of the military office or the flat with two bedrooms…
The set, designed by Gregor Donnelly is very smart with the idea of switches between the two doors or lights front stage, centre stage, backstage which helped the actors to travel between the military context, to the bedroom, to the flat, to the balcony…
The relationship of these two men is literally on a battlefield : moving territories, changing tactics. No matter what they endure they are always allies. This will have consequences and will require forgiveness, because of inevitable betrayal from Roman to keep a front, the front of a straight man.
As tragic as it sounds, the comedic timing due to the writing, and of course the great direction by Owen Lewis, made the piece light and powerful at the same time. Weight is being pulled step by step. Emotions as well. You get to live in the moment with the actors, set is very well transformed from scene to scene, the audience is clearly with the characters, in the cold, in the flat, in the office.
The timeline and transitions are subtle, as when in the dark we get to listen to archives from the cold war, that helps to follow and respect a certain chronology. The tension is maintained by that context as the relationship between Sergey and Roman is forbidden, but again, the play shows that love can cross any obstacles and is even more stronger with those obstacles.
Last but not least, acceptance is the core of the play. The only character that is opposed to that concept is Alexei that will not change position. The more intriguing travel into the plot is the one of Sorcha. She thinks very loud which is beautiful to see, until the moment where the inner monologue comes out.
This play brings us a look back at the challenges of war, but also how two soldiers come together from opposite sides. Firebird shows when love is stronger than its obstacles!
★★★★★
Firebird plays at the King's Head Theatre until the 9th of February.
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