Pussy Riot: Riot Days @ Summerhall

Riot Days isn’t your typical gig. It is not certain if it is a gig at all, in fact. Its producer, Alexander Cheparukhin, introduces the show by clearing up the common misconception that Pussy Riot “are not, and have never been, a punk band”.

Most of the audience are in the same boat: the name Pussy Riot rings a bell, but we don’t fully understand who they are and what they do yet. We remember the famous 2012 arrest of three of its members and the subsequent imprisonment for what the Russian state deemed hooliganism: a musical guerilla performance they had staged in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. “Pussy Riot never performed on a stage”, continues Cheparukhin. They were primarily an activist group that used music as a vehicle to stage protest action, not a band.

So then what is this show we are about to witness tonight, embedded in the hustle and bustle of the Edinburgh Fringe? Is it music? Performance? Theatre? A lecture? None of us are quite sure, and it is safe to say we witness a little bit of everything tonight.

One of the three arrested in 2012 is Maria Alyokhina, the centre of tonight’s performance and the author of Riot Days, the memoir on which the show is based. It is her story that is being told tonight. The Riot Days show has been touring, with varying lineups, since 2017, but it has changed and evolved after a series of arrests Alyokhina experienced in 2022, culminating in her escaping from court-mandated house arrest in Russia by disguising herself as a delivery driver and fleeing the country to settle in Iceland.

“All of the girls performing tonight”, says Chaparukhin, “are on wanted lists”. Clearly, we are experiencing more than just your typical concert tonight.

The lights dim. Drummer and producer Eric Breitenbach enters the stage. For a while, nothing happens. Is this part of the show? Opening night-induced technical difficulties? After a while, things start to happen and the show starts with the beat of a strong drum. Alyokhina, flanked by fellow performers Taso Pletner and Olga Borisova, enters the stage wearing Pussy Riot’s signature colourful balaclavas. The energy is there from the beginning: there is an anger in the air that is powerful and unmistakeable. The music titillates between aggressive spoken word, heavy drum beats, the haunting song of Pletner’s flute and almost angelic vocals, evoking the memory of church song.

Alyokhina and her fellow performers sing exclusively in Russian, with English subtitles on a screen behind them telling their story - a story of resistance, of a state’s descent into totalitarianism, of fear and hope and the refusal to give up on one’s home. “Virgin Mary, punish Putin” flashes on the screen in big, angry letters. Reading the story through the medium of subtitles while watching the performance feels almost like watching a film live as the drums drone on in the background.

These are people who did not dream of becoming musicians and touring the world. These are people who have a message to convey, and music has become their medium for getting this message across. Tonight is about storytelling, and the anger and despair of the Russian people is hammered home. At one point, Borisova starts throwing water on the audience, opening one bottle after the other, soaking us through. We feel trapped, almost ashamed at the same time: who are we to complain about getting a little wet when the people on stage have been through so much?

But one point the performers make clear throughout the show is that they are not ready to give up on their country. They love their home, and they want us to know how many Russians disagree with Putin’s regime. Wearing an “I Stand with Ukraine” T-shirt, Alyokhina ends the show, heading straight to a book signing in the Summerhall’s courtyard – with all proceeds going to Ukraine and Russian political prisoners.

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Pussy Riot: Riot Days, Summerhall (Dissection Room), until 23 Aug (not 18), 10pm, £25