Mother Russia

Mother Russia description

Two friends in post-Soviet St Petersburg go into surveillance, and one of them falls for the woman he is watching.

It is 1992, and the Soviet Union has just collapsed. Evgeny and Dmitri are young men in a city where the rules have been rewritten overnight, and they find their way into the new economy through espionage and racketeering. Their target is Katya, a Western-educated woman whose movements they are paid to follow. The job becomes complicated when Evgeny starts to fall in love with her.

Mother Russia is a comedy about the arrival of the free market and what it did and did not deliver. This is the UK premiere, following the play's first production at Signature Theatre in New York, directed there by Teddy Bergman. Reviewing that production, The New York Times called it "a new play that's as funny as it's smart".

The play is written by Lauren Yee, the American playwright behind Cambodian Rock Band and The Great Leap, and one of the most widely produced playwrights in the United States in recent years. It is directed by Oscar Toeman, making his Hampstead debut; Toeman was Baylis Director at the Old Vic from 2023 to 2025 and his credits include The Sugar Syndrome by Lucy Prebble and The Misfortune of the English by Pamela Carter.

Casting is to be announced. The production plays in Hampstead Downstairs, the theatre's studio space, with an age guidance of 14+; it contains strong language and references to death, guns, violence, war and suicide.

Book tickets for a sharp comedy about friendship, surveillance and the price of a new beginning.

Playing at Hampstead Theatre

Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 3EU GB (venue info)

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