… and a dictator is born. The world expected President Yeltsin to bring freedom and democracy to Russia. Instead, he ended up as an infirm drunkard and a puppet in the hands of ultra rich businessmen known as oligarchs. Now, as his second term in office is coming to an end, trials for corruption scandals are looming above him as well as above the oligarchs. If the latter ones want to save themselves and their high-yielding businesses, they have little time left to find a suitable successor to Yeltsin. Someone who would be easy to manipulate, someone capable of shielding them from criminal prosecution. Boris Berezovsky, a media mogul and the most powerful Russian oligarch, believes to have found such a man: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Before long, Berezovsky accomplishes the impossible; in just a few months, the unknown head of the secret police becomes the country’s Prime Minister, and even its President. However, he soon admits he has been mistaken about Putin. The man who was intended to be a puppet in his hands, longs to seize unlimited control not only over Russia, but also over all Eastern Europe. He removes everyone who blocks his way to power. Berezovsky finds himself in the position of an improbable hero: no one else is able to protect the bashful germs of Russian democracy from Putin. Together with the former secret agent Litvinenko, who holds proof of Putin’s abusive practices, they strive to alert both the Russians and western states to the ascending dictator. In his previous work, the author of Patriots, Peter Morgan (*1963), repeatedly deals with the fortunes of the British royal family. He attracted viewers’ attention by his screenplay for the film The Queen starring Helen Mirren, by his brilliant conversational stage play The Audience, and by the acclaimed TV series The Crown. In his most recent play, Morgan asks how it is possible the West slept away Putin’s ascension and undertakes a fascinating probe into the mentality of a nation that almost unanimously countenances the bloody and unprovoked war in Ukraine.

Czech premiere: January 10^th, 2025 at Mahen Theatre

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