Anna

Anna Politkovskaya was murdered for what she believed in. Gunned down in a lift for refusing to be silenced, for refusing to sit back and let the human rights abuses of the Russian/Chechen war continue unreported. The formidable Badac Theatre Company have created a brutal call to arms in her memory; an uncomfortable, uncompromising confrontation with our own apathetic consumption of atrocity.

We're taken down into the basement of Summerhall and arranged along the walls of a stark white corridor. It's like a holding pen. But anyone waiting to be moved on into a comfortable seat or an immersive playground is in for a rude awakening, as Politkovskaya's story is played out in the closest possible quarters.

You can smell the sweat and spittle as Marnie Baxter's furious representation of the journalist rails against the lies and cruelties of her countrymen. We see Politkovskaya shake with grief and rage as she hears the story of a woman whose son was tortured to death, or speaks to a survivor of the Dubrovka massacre. We see her beaten and abused by soldiers and Putin's lackeys. We see the pain she faces daily and the suffering she endures for bringing it to light, and we have nowhere to avert our eyes.

Badac confront our apathy by temporarily revoking our right to it. This shiv of a play is at its most powerful when it sticks close to the stories Politkovskaya fought for, but its brutal, unrelenting punches make the price of truth harrowingly clear.