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 unrepresented. A person who does not support the war finds themselves in a difficult position. They have to ask themselves 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 keep from 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, my job?
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Anastasia Patlay had been collecting audio interviews with people of different ages, professions, and varying degrees of involvement in the situation. Together, these interviews create a multi-layered picture and provide 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. And it’s so transparent. Seems to be ok. But actually it’s very scary, very tight. I’m getting back to what I am saying, I’m filtering words. I couldn’t imagine that I would find myself in such a situation. Of course I live in Moscow now, going around the city, it’s improving, there are some new social projects being launched and stuff. Everything is just fine here. For me it’s like a carriage converted into a pumpkin. At some point I even felt myself a soviet woman who will forbid everything to everyone just like my grandma who used to forbid pretty much everything. I felt that I have this in myself now too. The state is like a mirror I guess. And I realized I don’t want to be such a person. And if there’s something in this world I was born for, then for sure it’s not to justify violence”.
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