Lo Zar
A restless adolescent, a secret agent, an absolute monarch: looking back over half a century of Russian history, Stefano Massini tells the story of the extraordinary rise to power – from an impoverished childhood in Leningrad to the day he was elected as president – of a man who became The Tsar.
2000 saw the only time that Vladimir Putin told the story of his life, which he did publicly, in the run-up to the presidential elections. It was a chilling biography, in which he spared no details of extreme violence, describing himself as a young thug who grew up on the streets, but who was soon completely dedicated to the secret services, which he saw as a mirage of absolute power and control. Stefano Massini takes his cue from this material, interweaving it with extracts from other speeches and public appearances by Putin, together with revelations that have emerged from essays and reconstructions that shed light on the shadows of his dizzying rise to power. The result is a ferocious and shocking account set against the backdrop of the fall of the Soviet Union, which sucked an entire system into an endless apocalypse.
Duration: the play is currently in production and the duration may vary
