Patriots
by Peter Morgan
Directed by Rupert Goold
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
April 12, 2024
Production website
πππππ out of 5.
Simply brilliant! Patriots is everything a play should be: a smart play that gives causes you to think and feel – excites your imagination – is fun and clever – dangerous and radical – challenges your view of history – and causes you to think about your future! All that in 2 glorious hours. Set in 1991 as the Soviet Union is morphing into the new Russia, oligarchs are taking over the government and billionaire Boris Berezovsky (brilliantly, brilliantly played by Michael Stuhlbarg) looks to an unknown deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin (equally brilliantly played by Will Keen) to serve as the eventual successor to President Boris Yeltsin – Putin seems to be the perfect puppet to serve this king-maker – – or is he?