Vanya is Alive

Echoing the current political situation in Russia, Vanya is Alive delivers a harrowing exploration of truth, resistance and humanity amidst the repression of an authoritarian regime.

The play tells the story of Alya, the mother of a soldier, whose world is ripped apart upon hearing the news of his death at war.

Written and produced by an all-Russian creative team with all seventeen parts performed by actor Nikolay Mulakov, it follows Alya’s long and painful journey to the truth which becomes a mirror for a nation grappling with lies, propaganda and manipulation.

Initially believing he would return from a place ‘where peace is going on’, she slowly starts to uncover the State’s web of deceit before becoming a victim to it herself after a harmless act of protest—an attempt to honour her son’s death—lands her in prison, where she experiences first-hand the brutality of a system determined to silence dissent and maintain its stranglehold on its people.

Vanya is Alive unflinchingly confronts the personal and societal costs of war, propaganda and systematic cruelty and questions the price of truth, freedom and personal responsibility in an oppressive society.