Last weekend saw the "to Russia with love" event launched as part of an alternative to the winter Olympic Games.
by Barry Heap | 15th Feb 2014
The Friday night saw an estimated 1200 take to the streets of Manchester’s village to march through the fake snow and Hold hands with members of the same sex in protest. As part of the campaign Taurus Bar is hosting pride house and many events are planned over the run of the winter Olympics.
Any funds raised will be donated to the Russian open games, the first Russian lgbt sports event to be held.
The Saturday night saw the "To Russia With Love” event which was also part of the Queer Contact Theatre Festival in Manchester’s Contact theatre.
The event saw the works of 4 different playwrights combined to offer different perspectives on the events the Sochi winter Olympics and the current political landscape in Russia. Clearly it touched a nerve with the Manchester LGBT community as it had sold out in advance of the evening
“Section 6.21” by Adam Zane formed the connective narrative between the pieces and was created from interviews and accounts by different people and events. Part of this was the account of an English born gay man who grew up and lives in Russia. It offers some great insights and gives an average man on the street perspective around the bigger events. It presents arguments towards the boycotts and anti Russia demonstrations. The balance to this is an interview with Olympian Blake Skjellerup. Featuring an athlete who is involved in the games itself allows the audience the chance to see the events from someone who just wants to compete in the events they have trained for?
The second piece of the evening was “Champion” by Rob Ward. This was the story of 2 rival boxers who fall in love and their journey towards the Olympic podium with one intending to parade a rainbow flag to make a political statement. The characters were believable and charming however it felt that this play suffered from the limited time frame available and there was a bigger story to tell here.
“Don't tell the kids” by Chris Hoyle showed the situation from a youth perspective as the characters prepare to go on a school trip to Sochi and consider he issues of personal safety and honey traps used against the gay community. It offers a funny touching and heart warming look at how we all view each others culture and ultimately provides a reminder that homophobia is certainly not limited to Russia. This play started quite light and as the events took a darker turn it certainly impacted.
“One Abstention” was the final piece of the evening. Stephen M Hornby offers a dark future in Russian politics where rather than the LGBT community coming together; closeted members of the party are used as pawns against each other. It showed the decline in equality for LGBT Russians not being a gay issue but a human rights issue.
The evening ended with the conclusion of “Section 6.21” drawing the direct parallel with Section 28 and how the Manchester LGBT community played a vital part in protesting against this. The final account was an email from 06/02/14 from the anonymous Russian man featured earlier. It expressed his gratitude that people in a foreign country care about what is happening in Russia. It ended with the ominous tone "things are getting worse"
All in all "To Russia With Love" was not a cosy theatre event. It was in equal measures challenging and thought provoking without going out of its way to shock or upset the audience. It presented allot of questions to which there were no easy answers. It certainly felt like a unique collection of voices all saying their opinion and bringing the audience together.
The rest of the season continues and further details can be found at http://www.pridehousemcr.com
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