It’s the year 2019. Helena and Silver have moved to Jõgeva – a small town…
Loe lähemalt
It’s the year 2019. Helena and Silver have moved to Jõgeva – a small town in Estonia, to be closer to Silver’s mother. One day, while working in the garden, Helena finds a strange man in their barn. In utter surprise, she hits him on the head with a shovel. Thinking he’s a village drunk, she calls her husband. Looking at the unconscious man, Helena asks, “Doesn’t he look… familiar?”
Just before this incident, Vladimir Putin was preparing to travel to a meeting with other world leaders in Stockholm. As always, his journey involved the full security service, ensuring no one would know his whereabouts. Ironically, that’s what gets him into trouble. While aboard the Russian presidential super-secret plane, Putin jumps out but damages his parachute, making it impossible to steer. He crash-lands somewhere in the bogs of Jõgeva.
So yes – Putin is the village bum.
After reading the news, Helena decides they must kill him. She believes it is the morally right thing to do. Silver has doubts and wants to call KAPO (Estonian Internal Security Service). But before they can decide, Ets, their Ukrainian friend, arrives to celebrate the big news of Putin’s disappearance. Ets grew up with Anton Vaino – an Estonian man, now Putin’s right hand – and eventually contacts him.
Meanwhile, in Russia, political chaos erupts. The country stands on the brink of revolution. The top brass is in disarray, wondering whether this might be a loyalty test staged by Putin himself, while quietly considering who will succeed him – perhaps Valentina Matviyenko?
This tragicomedy asks whether it is acceptable to kill a murderer – someone responsible for the torture and death of millions. It offers a satirical but deeply insightful glimpse into the surreal absurdities of Russian politics.
It is a comedy, fast-paced and full of colourful detail, but it also reveals what it feels like to live in constant fear of your neighbour. The play was written in 2019, with the story set in 2023, a play for the future, written in the past. And unfortunately, it remains just as relevant today.