Mother Russia – 25 February 2026

The engaging theatrical experience that is Mother Russia leans into the contradictions of the serious playfulness of Russian culture. Steeped in physical comedy, quick wit, and persiflage, this performance tells a deeply haunting story in a way that encapsulates the audience in its wildly fluctuating world. The most entertaining element is Mother Russia (David Turner) personified, bemoaning the changes in her role over the years and occasionally stepping into the story to remind the audience how images of Russian patriotism have changed over the years. Replete with modern references and mockery of the differences between American and Russian cultures, Mother Russia insidiously teaches a powerful lesson about not looking down on those who live differently than you—cultural differences are significant and we should not ridicule those who live with wildly different challenges.

One moment that really stood out to me was when Evgeny (Adam Chanler-Berat) and Dmitri (Steven Boyer) share a McDonald’s Fillet-O-Fish for the first time. McDonald’s is expensive and hard to get in Russia, and even though many Americans think that the Fillet-O-Fish is the worst thing on the menu, Evgeny and Dmitri aren’t used to food with high quantities of MSG and enough salt to necessitate a warning on American menus. Evgeny and Dmitri are taken with the intensity of the taste and split this sandwich with vigor and enthusiasm to the point of licking their own fingers and each other’s fingers for good measure. This moment is a reminder that the little things that Americans take for granted—namely having choices about what to eat (and, bolder still, what to think) feel differently when one is discovering them for the fist time as a fully grown adult. There are later moments where the characters lament the loss of communism because the choices in a competitive capitalist market are overwhelming when introduced to an adult who is used to being grateful for the products that are in the store.

The addition of Katya (Rebecca Naomi Jones) to the cast is interesting—in some ways, as a modern woman, she is the foil to Mother Russia. She is a free thinker, an artist, and a dreamer, with a troubled, painful past that she doesn’t fully understand. So actually, maybe, in a way, she is exactly like Mother Russia. She is proud, stubborn, beautiful, and full of an ever shifting mix of disgust with humanity and hope that people will rise above it all. It is interesting to think about the different ways one can be Russian, and it’s safe for this American audience to explore those ideas before applying them to the different ways one can be American.

The story ends in a brave place but also a cowardly one. Evgeny sends Dmitri out into the line of fire first, and even though they both perish at the hands of Evgeny’s irate father, they both go out knowing that they are done for and they both do so with dignity. Evgeny and Dmitri are civilians (no KGB training, as Dmitri laments). This final moment is steeped in pride where so many other moments of Mother Russia are steeped in a loss of dignity—the Fillet-O-Fish, Evgeny’s cowardice with his father, the lies surrounding Katya, Dmitri’s misogyny, etc. These characters live boldly and are not ashamed of their mistakes. This allows the bravery to have final moments where we see their truth, their beauty, their humility, and their humanity. What a way to go.

I attended this performance on a press pass from Blake Zidell & Associates.