'It wasn't me, it was Putin'

The 'Russian Theatre' in Berlin puts on a play about the war in Ukraine. Built along the lines of the historical play 'It wasn't me, it was Adolf Hitler'. It tries to understand what the majority of Russians think about the conflict. 'Russia will be able to rise again on the road of repentance'.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russian director Grigory Kofman has presented an artistic-documentary show entitled "It wasn't me, it was Putin" at the Theater Forum Kreuzberg in Berlin. The title echoes that of the historic play 'It wasn't me, it was Adolf Hitler', which has been staged daily since 1974 in Berlin's small theatre in the Charlottenburg district and seen by thousands of young people.

Kofman's project brings back the voices of his compatriots about the war in Ukraine. It originated in his hometown of St Petersburg, but living in Germany he thought he would address the German audience in their own language, and not his compatriots.

Every day the 80 seats available are always sold out, thanks in part to the Berliners' sensitivity to major international political events. The director explained to Radio Svoboda journalists that 'the verbal nature of prose theatre is not very ductile, rather it is statuesque, and it is important to choose the right words, to avoid misunderstandings'.

The play began to compose itself immediately after 24 February a year ago, 'bringing together all the emotions of the director and the actors, who are actually co-authors'. Drawing on the 'wonderful and surprising experiences' of Moscow's Teatr.doc, with its directors Mikhail Ugarov and Elena Gremina, Kofman then set to work in the 'Russian Theatre' in Berlin, where he has lived since 1993. Gathering news reports, he constructed dramatic material around them, together with his friend, playwright Vladimir Reznik, who lives in the USA.

Thus, the key to reading the tragic events of the war was found, "not our personal impressions, but through work on ourselves, we tried to understand what the majority of Russians think, both those who agree with the aggression and those who justify it by their silence," explains Kofman. Behind a cellophane curtain, the protagonists repeat widespread stereotypes about US threats, 'Ukrainian fascism' and support for Putin, to highlight the responsibility of each and everyone in the war.

It is not, however, a question of denouncing an anonymous 'collective responsibility', good for all position variants, but the 'involvement of the individual' in the face of such shocking events.

The main actress is Maria Žarkova, a Russian who came to Germany as a young girl and then returned home for her studies, and who collected conversations with friends, colleagues and relatives, conducting street interviews in Russia and Germany.

Most of these are frightening testimonies of support for the Putin regime and support for the war, which are juxtaposed with the repetitions collected in the kitchen of a St. Petersburg flat, between a glass of vodka and a plate of "pelmeny" together with three friends: the homeless man Goša, the pharmacist Kuleš and the artist (under a pseudonym) Zinaida Serebrjakova, played by three other actors.

The last two represent the Petersburg intelligentsija who deny reality, until suddenly an acquaintance, Anja, arrives and angrily breaks the news of the death of her close friend Matvej, killed in Ukraine.

This provokes a panic attack, which turns into a drunken argument, to which Kremlin propaganda images and original interviews are interwoven in the play, about the confrontation between traitors and fugitives, activists and policemen, in a collective picture of despair and collective blame-shifting.

Kofman is not afraid of reproaches from his compatriots, who accuse him of not understanding the current reality of Russia: "In all these years I have travelled a lot around Russia, and I think I understand a lot more than the drunks who take refuge in the kitchen, thinking they represent the entire Russian people".

The director's vision of the country's future is marked by 'deep pessimism', for which 'at least 40 years of atonement will be needed, if Russia is ever to rise again on the road to repentance'. The play brings back discussions of the times of the Bolshevik revolution, and of the intelligentsija's distance from reality, but Kofman wants to believe that 'the people can recognise their guilt, starting with the contradictions that tear at each of our souls."

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• theatre grigory kofman