In a glass jar. Voices from Russia
documentary performance
playwright, performer
Jyväskylä / Paris / Belgrade 2022
Playwright, Performer, Director — Anastasia Patlay
Languages: Russian, translated into English and French
The emotions of citizens in a totalitarian state are among the most concealed, suppressed, and underrepresented. A person who does not support the war finds themselves in a difficult position. They are forced to ask complex questions and seek answers: Should I protest, knowing that it is currently futile? How can I help those who are suffering more than I am? How do I avoid losing my mind? Am I personally responsible for what is happening, and if so, to what extent? Can I change anything in this world, or at least in my own life? What am I allowed to think, and what am I not? Can I leave, abandoning my relatives, my social circle, and my job?
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Anastasia Patlay has been collecting audio interviews with people of different ages, professions, and degrees of involvement in the situation. Together, these interviews create a multilayered picture and offer insight into how a totalitarian regime affects a free individual.
Photo: Nikita Mouraviev, Nata Korenovskaia
“I feel as if I am in a glass jar. It’s transparent, and it seems to be okay. But actually, it’s very scary and very tight. I’m going back to what I was saying: I’m filtering my words. I couldn’t have imagined that I would find myself in such a situation. Of course, I live in Moscow now, I move around the city, things are improving, some new social projects are being launched, and so on. Everything seems just fine here. For me, it’s like a carriage turned into a pumpkin. At some point, I even felt like a Soviet woman who would forbid everything to everyone, just like my grandma, who used to forbid pretty much everything. I felt that I had this inside me too. The state is like a mirror, I guess. And I realized that I don’t want to be such a person. And if there’s something in this world I was born for, then it’s definitely not to justify violence.”
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