The Litvinenko Project

What do you remember about Alexander Litvinenko? That’s the first question we’re asked by 2Magpies Theatre as we take our seats at their tea-party-cum-investigation. They want to make sure that he doesn’t slip from our minds, that we all keep talking about what happened to him and the possible reasons behind it.

For those who had forgotten, former Russian spy Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive polonium—most likely slipped into his tea—in November 2006. More than eight years later, it’s still unclear who was responsible. But 2Magpies have their theories and they’re here to share them with us. Tea, anyone?

Sipping cautiously at our tables, we watch as performers Tom Barnes and Matt Wilks reenact the events of the day Litvinenko was poisoned, retracing his steps and speculating on what might have happened. He met with two men who had a business proposition for him, and another who warned him that his accusations against Putin’s government were getting him in over his head. In ever more aggressive and surreal tea-related scenarios, 2Magpies offer vivid visual hints towards these meetings’ sinister undercurrents.

Arriving in Edinburgh just after the public inquiry has closed, The Litvinenko Project is certainly timely. Whether it goes much further than bringing the case back into the shared consciousness of its audience, though, is another question. There are lots of starting points here, alluding to some of the wider political motives at play, but little that ventures beyond the limited facts we already know.