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Ìýexplores the themes of artistic representation, truthÌýand political assassinationÌýin Putin's Russia. It focuses on the operaÌýÌýbyÌýAnthony Bolton (music) and Kit Hesketh-Harvey (libretto), which premiered in 2021 at Grange Park Opera.Ìý

The fifteen-minute video shortÌýbrings together director Stephen Medcalf and mezzo soprano Olivia Ray -Ìýwho sang the role of journalist and mediator Anna Politkovskaya - with writer-journalistÌýOwen Matthews, Russian politics expertÌýBen Noble and anthropologist Michal Murawski.

Who were Litvinenko and Politkovskaya?ÌýWhat do their stories tell us about RussiaÌýunder Putin?Ìý

The film traces how Ray approached the role, and Medcalf came to direct an opera on the topic, while investigating the understandings that govern life under Putin, and the relationship between theatrical and historical truth.Ìý

The film was created by filmmakerÌýby Graham RiachÌýin collaboration with the EI's Claudia Sternberg.ÌýMany thanks toÌýÌýfor letting us use their recording.Ìý

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“Grange Park Opera onÌý:

Exiled and living in London, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko becomes Putin’s most ebullient and needling critic. He learns that his former colleagues are using his face for target practice; a law is passed that allows Russian traitors to be killed anywhere in the world.

Just a few months later – in November 2006 – Litvinenko is poisoned with radioactive Polonium-210. Alexander Litvinenko was a man who solved his own murder. As he lay dying, he worked with Scotland Yard detectives, and tracked the lethal dose to his former colleague – and football fan – Andrei Lugovoy.Ìý

This real-life story is told through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards covering events in Russia that lead Litvinenko to seek exile and his family’s life in Muswell Hill. Extensive use is made of historic film footage.

With:Ìý

• , mezzo soprano.ÌýOlivia sang the role ofÌýAnna Polikovskaya in The Life & Death of Alexander Litvinenko at Grange Park.ÌýIn the current season engagements include Emelia inÌýOtello, directed by David Alden at Grange Park Opera, a recital with Elizabeth Mucha at the London Song Festival and Bach B Minor Mass with the London Chorus. Other highlights in recent seasons include Lady Spencer inÌýGeorgianaÌýat the Buxton International Festival; Gertrude inÌýRoméo et Juliette, Flora inÌýLa traviata, Enrichetta di Francia inÌýI puritani, and Soeur Mathilde anÌýDialogues des carmélitesÌýforÌýGrange Park Opera; ElgarÌýThe ApostlesÌýat Gloucester Cathedral; and RossiniÌýPetite messe solennelleÌýat the Three Choirs Festival.
• ,Ìýstage and opera director,Ìýincluding ofÌýThe Life & Death of Alexander LitvinenkoÌýfor Grange Park Opera. Stephen'sÌýcurrent and future engagements include UN BALLO IN MASCHERA and DIE WALKÃœRE at Grange Park Opera, LEONORE and IDOMENEO at Buxton Festival, HERCULANUM at Wexford Festival Opera, MANON LESCAUT at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and Asociación Bilbaina de amigos de la Ópera in Bilbao, FALSTAFF at Accademia della Scala on tour to Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman and AIDA and ARIODANTE at Landestheater Niederbayern.ÌýCareer highlights include PIKOVAYA DAMA Teatro alla Scala, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Glyndebourne Opera House (televised and released on video/DVD), MANON LESCAUT and DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (released on DVD) Teatro Regio di Parma, and DIE ENTFUHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL for Teatro delle Muse, Ancona, which was subsequently seen at the Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and the Theatre Festival of Thessaloniki. In 2005, he earned the coveted Premio Abbiati Italian critics’ Prize as Director of the Year.
• ,ÌýAssociate Professor in Russian PoliticsÌýat the UCLÌýSchool of Slavonic and East European Studies and Asssociate Fellow of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) in the Russia and Eurasia Programme. Ben is the author ofÌýNavalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future?Ìý(Hurst, 2021).Ìý
• ,ÌýÌýBritish writer, historian and journalist.ÌýHis first book,ÌýStalin's Children, was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Books Award,Ìýthe Orwell Prize for political writing,Ìýand France'sÌýPrix Medicis Etranger.ÌýHis books have been translated into 28 languages. He is a former Moscow and Istanbul Bureau Chief for Newsweek Magazine, and nowÌýRussia correspondent forÌýThe Spectator.Ìý
• Ìýis an anthropologist of architecture and of citiesÌýbased at the ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûSchool of Slavonic and East European Studies, where he is Assistant ProfessorÌýin Critical Area Studies.ÌýDuring 2017-2018, heÌýcarried out ethnographic fieldwork in Moscow.
• ,Ìýacademic and documentary filmmakerÌýbased in Oxford and Brussels. As an academic, he specialises in world literature, with a particular interest in questions of form and aesthetics. As a filmmaker, he specialises in working with academics to tell the story of their research in words, images, and sound.Ìý