Who Wants to Kill Yulia Tymoshenko? @ Assembly Roxy

The imprisoned former Ukranian Prime Minister fights her case behind bars.

Review by Kayleigh Donaldson | 22 Aug 2013

Yulia Tymoshenko is a former two-time Prime Minister of Ukraine, previously one of the wealthiest and most controversial businesswomen in the country, and a key figure of the Orange Revolution, who has been imprisoned since 2010 on charges of abuse of office. In her home country, she remains one of the most divisive figures of modern day politics, and, regardless of one’s opinion of her, she deserves a far more interesting show than this.

This two-hander piece, set in the jail cell Yulia shares with a twitchy prostitute accused of murder, opens with a fawning, badly projected film of Tymoshenko’s rise to power and sticks to that level of blind hagiography for the remaining hour. There are places in the theatrical spectrum for agenda drama and polemics when they’re done well (see Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart), but Jakov Sedlar is too preoccupied with making a point to bother to make his piece in any way interesting. From the predictable characterisations to the clichéd script and Ines Wurth’s performance desperately seeking a soapbox (and clad in the world’s most unfortunate wig), the entire experience is turgid propaganda stripped of the complexities Tymoshenko deserves. Even Evita was more balanced than this.

The saving grace comes from the character of Lena, Tymoshenko’s cynical and world weary cellmate. She is at least given the privilege of being a character rather than a mouthpiece, but even she is soon reduced to mindlessly adoring Tymoshenko. Good propaganda is supposed to dazzle its audience into submission. Who Wants to Kill Yulia Tymoshenko? comes close to sending them all to sleep.

 

Who Wants to Kill Yulia Tymoshenko? Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug, 11am, 60 minutes. £12/£10 http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/who-wants-to-kill-yulia-tymoshenko