Yulia Tymoshenko was the pin-up girl of Ukrainian politics for much of the last decade. She looked exactly like those Aryan ice maidens that the Soviets used on propaganda posters to show how their brave new world was going to be.
It may be a little overly earnest but this bioplay offers a perfect grounding in the political life of the country.
Ines Wurth plays the politician in 2010, while her party attempted to retake power, from the cramped space of a prison cell in which she is incarcerated for seven years.
From the start, one must inevitably wonder whether her sympathetic, young cell mate is an informer. Regardless of that possibility, Marijana Matoković as prostitute / murderer Lena does a good job of drawing out Mrs Tymoshenko’s life story for viewers.
As portrayed here, the politician is a driven idealist whose sole goal in life is to improve the lot of the poor. Any weaknesses are ignored, which suggests an imbalance in the writing.
The two actresses both deliver excellent performances in a worthy play that will help Fringe visitors to get a much better understanding of political life in a benighted country, where Yulia Tymoshenko still languishes in prison to this day.