My first theatre trip of 2025 is to see Firebird, written by Richard Hough and based on the memoir by Sergey Fetisov (we were given copies of this on press night), and the 2021 film screenplay by Peeter Rebane & Tom Prior (subscribers to BFI Player can watch that now).
I came to it not familiar with either book or movie, and only knew it was an LGBTQ+ story based in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Roman Matvejev (Robert Eades) is an officer, Sergey Serebrennikov (Theo Walker) is a private.
Their friendship is discouraged as those in a position of leadership shouldn’t “mix with the rank and file”, and yet over a drink and accompanied by the music of The Firebird ballet, they enter into an affair which is against both law and regulations.
Their mutual friend, Luisa (Sorcha Kennedy), is an Estonian and secretary to Comrade Colonel Alexei Kuznetsov (Nigel Hastings), a military man who meddles while offering a paternalistic eye on the situation.
Roman, conflicted between duty and desire, appears to have a knack of finding himself in trouble, with an airborne accident forcing him and Sergey apart.
This is where the source material and the play apparently converge, with conflicts and revelations coming at a different point than in the story as written and remembered.
A watch and a set of colourful bird feathers assume deep significance, and there are a couple of hot embraces, but I found something of the emotion lacking in what is essentially a story of passion and repression in a dangerous country.
Hough’s writing and direction by Owen Lewis utilise a reconfigured main house space that has a number of difficult sightlines for the audience (arranged on three sides for this production).
Gregor Donnelly’s design has sliding doors in an ‘iron curtain’ backdrop, minimal props, and scene changes that take place in muted light as the actors move furniture and get into position. A light ascends and descends. Spotlighting (lighting by Clancy Flynn) is used as well as warm tones to emphasise the difference between office and home.
I struggled to hear some of the dialogue when the actors were facing away from where I was sitting, but I don’t think I lost anything major in terms of plot. There is a thin vein of humour that runs through the whole play, even when something catastrophic happens in the second half.
Walker’s Sergey is charming and creative; Eades’s Roman cocky and charismatic. But despite their best efforts, together with Kennedy’s conflicted Luisa, there is little chance for character exploration, and the chemistry between the lovers is only evident in fits and starts.
Firebird offers a window into how LGBTQ+ people survive in such situations, and with 64 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia still criminalising gay relationships, it is a relevant piece of drama.
However, this Firebird only hovers and smoulders when it might soar and sizzle.
3 stars
Firebird continues to 9 Feb at King’s Head Theatre – tickets here.
Image credit: Geraint Lewis