Firebird is based on the memoir by Sergey Fetisov and the film of the same name by Peeter Rebane and Tom Prior. It tells the story of Roman Matvejev (Robert Eades) and Sergey Serebrennikov (Theo Walker) who met during the Cold War and began a relationship surrounded by danger and threat.
The seating around the stage on three sides gave the illusion of covertly watching scenes play out at a time when it was considered that they should not have played out at all. The set was minimal with very effective use of doors and lighting to convey more space effectively.
There is no doubt that the cast in this production are exceptional actors. Nigel Hastings as Col. Alexi Kuznetsov keeping a watchful eye on his men was superb, and Luisa Jannsen (Scorcha Kennedy), the mutual friend of Sergey and Roman evoked respect and sympathy for the character. By the nature of the story it was Robert Eades and Theo Walker who the focus was on, and this was by no means a bad thing.
The play made me feel quite anxious to watch due to the amount of tension in the story – the threat of discovery, the very real danger of death in combat and the personal angst and trauma felt by the characters. A complex story, but one source of tension, perhaps the one that you would hope for the most in this play, the chemistry between Roman and Sergey, was lacking for me, and this is by no means a fault of the actors as they all performed wonderfully.
The story itself has left me with a lot of questions, which I won’t go into here as I am not one for sharing spoilers but I feel this play should actually be longer. However it was a great watch and left me wanting to read the original memoir and watch the film to hopefully fill in some of the blanks.
⭐⭐⭐1/2
Firebird is showing at the Kings Head Theatre until 9 February.
On the Kings Head website you can see a video of how to get to it on foot from Angel tube station. Such a brilliant idea!
