Silent Planet, Finborough Theatre

The Finborough has always been renowned for supporting the next generation of playwrights from early in their careers, and this season is no exception. Coming directly after Vibrant, their festival of new writing, is a world premiere run from an extremely exciting playwright, Eve Leigh.
Silent Planet was inspired by the life of Vladimir Bukovsky, a neurophysiologist and political activist who uncovered the use of psychiatric imprisonment in the Soviet Union during the 60s and 70s, and it builds a deeply human yet eerily haunting look at the power of words and stories in the backdrop of the Cold War.
Although this is her first full length production, Leigh has worked behind the scenes on some terrific stuff, from Belarus Free Theatre’s notoriously hard-hitting shows, to the immersive, interactive work of experimental companies such as Oscar Mike. And here she teams up with the Artistic Director of this company, Tom Mansfield.
So we expect Silent Planet to contain stunning and sinister poeticism. The plot-driven mix of political thriller and sci-fi is fertile territory, and one which has occupied many of our larger stages, from the Almeida to the Royal Court, over the last year. We are looking forward to some smaller-scale theatrical magic from this promising premiere production.