Patriots ★★★★ Noël Coward Theatre | May 26 - Aug 19, 2023
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Patriots raises the curtain on life in the Kremlin after the collapse of the USSR. Based on real events, the show chronicles the rise of the oligarchs under Yeltsin and their eventual subjugation by Putin. It is an absorbing recounting of how the leading oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, plucked the young Putin from political obscurity only to realise that his putative puppet was determined to master the wily puppeteer. It is a byzantine story of intrigue and ego and Peter Morgan connects the dots to create a dark portrait of the rise of the current Russian dictator that is chilling and intense. Any news media consumer will recall the various names invoked, like Roman Abramovich and Alexander Litvinenko, but Morgan's work very interestingly ties their stories into the main plotline and exposes the consequences of acquiescence or resistance to Putin's emerging dominance. The dialogue sometimes seems a bit awkward and too expository, but the plotline of the two principals struggling f