Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Pussy Riot: Riot Days
Pussy Riot
Genre: Music, Theatre, True-life
Venue: Summerhall
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This show is the story of the famous women-led band Pussy Riot, whose daring actions protesting the Russian government led to multiple incarcerations but started a freedom movement.
Review
Pussy Riot is more than a band – it’s a global movement for freedom, equality, and justice. The story and history of the group forms the basis of this Fringe and touring show. The story is engaging to the core, shocking, emotional, and fierce. You want to scream at what happened to the group and cheer at their resilience. All of this is encapsulated in a powerful one-hour show.
If you don’t know about Pussy Riot, then you haven’t been following the news. They are front-line protestors against a tyrannical regime. The members are brave and determined. This is their tale, told through music, live singing, and on-screen footage. They say that women are leading a revolution, and they are definitely at the forefront.
The Pussy Riot: Riot Days tour is both a play and a concert, based on a book by singer Maria Alyokhina, which is a detailing of her experiences with the band and in the Russian prison system.
This show is alarming, eye-opening, gripping, and a call to action. It is a very important retelling of the events that led to Pussy Riot’s actions of resistance and their challenges as a result of their bravery.
Pussy Riot was a band of three people: Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich. The group never saw themselves as a punk band, although the music certainly sounds like that genre. They said that they were merely impersonating a punk band. Initially they performed on stage in balaclavas in 2012 inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. It was a protest against the Russian Orthodox church and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They accused the church of corruption in its support of Putin. They felt that the Kremlin was taking over their religion, which was supposed to be separate from the state. It was a mere 40 second performance but 40 seconds of crime that impacted the world’s view of Russia. The three singers were accosted by guards attempting to stop the performance and subsequently jailed for disorderly conduct in a church. They were held without bail then imprisoned for two years. Thus began their years of protesting and incarceration.
They never stopped putting out their message – and were continually punished for speaking. They campaigned for gay rights, trans people, and same sex couples. They protested the arrest of Alexi Navalny, a Russian anti-corruption activist and politician whose criticisms of Russian led to two poisonings, the last one fatal. They state that 107 people were killed under Putin’s orders for political views. The punishment for having just an anti-war poster was 15 years in prison. Pussy Riot was part of a movement for free expression. Irina Slavina, the editor of an independent Russian news website, set herself on fire outside the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in protest after police raided her home
Pussy Riot members were continually jailed. They were put in solitary confinement, examined naked, banished to the snow-covered north with barbed wire fencing around their facility, put in house arrest with an ankle monitor, and more. There is a poignant scene of one of the members’ young sons outside of the prison holding a sign asking for the release of his mother. The group was highly critical of the millions spent on the Sochi Olympics. At that time, political prisoners were granted amnesty, which Pussy Riot members viewed as manipulating world opinion. The singers said that they would have preferred to stay in prison with their protest.
Although under house arrest, Alyokhina managed to flee Russia in 2022, disguised as a food courier and with no passport. Iceland welcomed her.
The show is divided into two parts, with sections with titles like War and The Zones. Through the backdrop of films documenting the activities of the members of the group, the riots in the streets, the brutality of the police, news headlines, and the responses of Putin, we are taken inside this bold revolutionary group and the progression of the repression of the public. The visuals combine news footage, cell phone captures, interviews, and headlines, painting a very graphic picture of inside Russian lives and politics. For those in the West, it is eye-opening and likely footage that we have never seen.
The performance is driven by a stirring beat from a Canadian drummer and “narrated” by singing in Russian from the three women on stage, one of whom is Maria Alyokhina, who is called Masha. The music is very loud, so bring earplugs. But the message is not only in the on-screen visuals but the intensity of the performers and the soundtrack, which reaches into your body with its power. The venue has a very few stools for sitting, so be prepared for an hour of standing. There are warnings that the show contains strobe and haze, and footage may be find distressing or upsetting. As water is thrown during performance, you may get wet.
Pussy Riot mantra is “freedom”. There are 1300 political prisoners currently in Russia. They say “imagine if we had the power to shape our own future. Freedom doesn’t exist unless you fight for it”. Women are marching. Women are leading the revolution.
The group have taken this fight on tour. Maria Alyokhina has written a book about their experiences in the Russian criminal system. After the concert you can purchase a Pussy Riot t-shirt or the book, with proceeds to support Ukrainian relief and Russian political prisoners.
Pussy Riot: Riot Days is highly impactful. It is a must-see for people who care about history, freedom, and human rights. The performers are outstanding actors, vocalists and musicians. It is a completely gripping hour for anyone who wants to be fully immersed in a unforgettable story with very powerful music.
