This weekend the RSC offers 'The Complete Russian Experience' as part of its Revolutions programme. Interestingly, an interview with Michael Boyd on Whatsonstage.com talks about how he chose the name 'Revolutions' because the first play, The Grain Store by Natalia Vorozhbit, is Ukrainian. Many people in Ukraine do not think of themselves as Russian.
The same is true of Georgia of course, but sadly the Russian government doesn't seem to recognise this. Having expelled the majority Georgian population from Abkhazia in the early 90s, they once again sent in troops last year.
The rights and wrongs around the start of last year's war are a subject for debate but the provocations from Russia date back considerably further. I was at the Golden Mask Festival in Moscow in 2006 when Russia suddenly decided to ban Georgian wine, followed rapidly by Borjomi mineral water. Since Russia was Georgia's main export market this economic warfare would have an immediate impact.
Why is it that countries of the former USSR empire want nothing to do with Russia? The Baltic states and other countries of the Warsaw Pact quickly turned their attention to the West. Georgia has asserted its right to be an independent sovereign state, much to the annoyance of the Russian bear. Can such a small country really bother its big neighbour so much?
I sometimes compare Russia to the British Empire. It's not a fashionable idea these days and undoubtedly there were horrors associated with colonialism but I do find it fascinating that Britain's former colonies maintain their links with Britain through the Commonwealth, an entirely voluntary association of equals. When South Africa finally gained freedom from the apartheid regime, one of Nelson Mandela's early acts was to rejoin the Commonwealth, the club from which South Africa was expelled as a result of apartheid.
I'm looking forward to a weekend with the RSC and I'm glad Michael Boyd called the season Revolutions, despite this weekend with 2 full productions, playreadings and discussions being called The Complete Russian Experience. I don't think I want the complete Russian experience - that would involve invading neighbouring countries, murdering critics and journalists, silencing free speech and oppressing my own people.
It's worth reading the Michael Boyd interview http://www.whatsonstage.com/interviews/theatre/london/E8831253193874/Michael+Boyd+On+...+Russian+Revolutions+%26+the+RSC.html
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