The Unseen is an intense and thought-provoking play that delves into the human spirit’s resilience under oppressive regimes.
Written by Craig Wright, directed by Iya Patarkatsishvili, with set and costume design by Simon Kenny and score by Danny Short, it is set to make its London debut at Riverside Studios 15 November – 14 December 2024. It will be accompanied by a series of high-profile post-performance discussions and the UK premiere of international exhibition Faces of Russian Resistance.
The cast features BAFTA Cymru Award-winning actor Richard Harrington (Fisherman’s Friends: One and All; Home I’m Darling) as Wallace and Waj Ali (Carnival Row; King Lear) as Valdez, two prisoners incarcerated together, with Ross Tomlinson (Allelujah; This Is Going To Hurt) as Smash, a prison guard.
Craig Wright’s play, first seen at the Humana Festival in 2007 and subsequently at New York’s Cherry Lane Theatre is a powerful exploration of the human spirit’s capacity for connection, even in the direst of circumstances. It challenges audiences to confront the realities of power, cruelty, and the often-hidden costs of survival.
In a brutal totalitarian regime, two strangers are imprisoned for reasons unknown. Wallace and Valdez communicate only through their cell walls, navigating waves of hope and disillusionment whilst seeking an escape route.
Finding solace in one another they create their own philosophies in an attempt to assign meaning to their state of confinement. Meanwhile, their torturer finds himself torn between his duty and his own self-revulsion and plans a showdown that will change everything.
The Unseen is an eye-opening look at human isolation, guilt, and the dehumanising effects of totalitarian repression. It is a gripping drama that will leave audiences questioning the boundaries of hope and despair, and the moral compromises made in the face of absolute power.
GUEST SPEAKERS
A series of post-performance events will be programmed in conjunction with the production, focusing on the play’s themes and contemporary human rights issues. Special guests to be announced who have been sourced with help from the Russian Democratic Society.
FACES OF RUSSIAN RESISTANCE
Acclaimed exhibition, Faces of Russian Resistance, will make its UK premier at Riverside Studios to coincide with the production of The Unseen. The exhibition focuses on Russians who oppose the Putin regime and paid for it with their freedom. Its heroes are not only politicians who led an open struggle for the freedom of Russia. These are ordinary citizens who did not believe false propaganda and did not accept the invasion to a neighbouring country. There are men and women, young and old, political activists, artists, scientists, students, fathers and mothers. They were all jailed for years, some of them — for decades.
