Atomic Tales: Elena Arvigo Channels the Tragedy of Chernobyl (review)

Atomic Tales tells the heart-rending story of Lyudmila, wife of one of the Pripyat firefighters who attended the fire in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. Based on the Prayer for Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, a collection of interviews from survivors of Chernobyl, it is a one-woman verbatim performance by Italian actress Elena Arvigo.

Rather than a historical retelling of the well-established facts, this is an emotional tracking of how one woman heard of the fire, said goodbye to her husband who had been called to attend the fire, and then against many odds, followed him to Moscow where her husband was taken by authorities, as they wanted nobody to know that attending firefighters had been fatally wounded.

Pregnant, she hides this to help attend her husband in Moscow’s Hospital Number Six, using bribery and subterfuge to get to his bedside; it ends with her living alone back in Kyiv.

This currently is a piece of work in development. Arvigo is challenging herself to take the original Italian and translate its powerful story into English. We therefore get both languages simultaneously spoken which heightens the confusion and the distress of the times.

The production has strong subject matter and equally strong messages. It can however be tonally one note; the unremitting misery becomes unrelenting. Arvigo is an intense presence who commands your attention throughout; the various stages of despair channelled with a downtrodden air. The final audio of Sarah Kane speaking, the English writer responsible for many similarly bleak plays, is unnecessary and feels a little indulgent – the writing speaks for itself.

Audiences are greeted as they walk in with Arvigo in full white HAZMAT suit with gas mask, in amongst a chaotic table laden with unattended dishes. It speaks of things left behind like things left unsaid because they cause so much pain. It truly feels like the set of a tragedy.

Atomic Tales is visceral, emotional, and bleak – just like the aftermath of Chernobyl. As such it is a fitting tribute in development, promising an emotional juggernaut once it finds its emotional power in English.

Atomic Tales is at Playground 1, ZOO Playground, 7th till 30th August