Theatre in Review: Patriots (Ethel Barrymore Theatre)

	Will Keen. Photo: Matthew Murphy

Peter Morgan's latest political thriller rests on the solid foundation of two sharply different antagonists. Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who has just purchased as his latest shiny toy the state television network, looks clinically at himself on screen and says, "As the first order of business, you can tell them to start using more flattering photographs of their new proprietor. Those images make me look like Rumpelstiltskin." He should talk; in the hands of Michael Stuhlbarg, the Brothers Grimm character, the comparison is all too apt.

First seen as a nine-year-old wunderkind who can solve problems that stump the world's great mathematicians, the adult Berezovsky emerges -- in a blast of EDM accompanied by flashing lights and models hurling wads of cash -- a ruthless businessman, bribing and short-selling his way into a gilded Xanadu furnished with luxury goods and populated by gold-digging mistresses. In Stuhlbarg's hands, Berezovsky is a joyous imp, a rampant id, a perpetual motion machine amassing wealth and pleasure in massive amounts. He works the phones with a zest rarely seen outside screwball comedy, putting out personal and professional fires simultaneously. Announcing a planned trip to the Caribbean "with friends," he waves his hands lubriciously, leaving little doubt about their collective gender. Closing a deal, he bursts into a little jig, unable to contain himself. Only fools would underestimate him, however; in a rage, he grabs a treacherous associate's head, and -- just for a second -- we wonder, fearfully, if might rip it off.

Such dynamism contrasts sharply with Putin, the obscure functionary Berezovsky helps elevate to the prime minister's office. As played by Will Keen, he is a contained, cautious presence, his movements slow and hulking, his voice rarely raised about a murmur. But note when he suddenly tilts his head for emphasis; it's an involuntary movement that signals mayhem is imminent. The combination of quietude and a hint of violence is peerlessly menacing. One of the most indelible images of Rupert Goold's production features Putin, having been portrayed as inept and dishonest by one of Berezovsky's newsreaders, staring upstage into a mirror, his face struggling to contain his fury. Video designer Ash J. Woodward compounds the effect by multiplying Putin's expression on the walls of the set.

Patriots recounts how Berezovsky, insisting that Russia was "in a coma" during the Soviet era and certain that the unchecked capitalism of the Boris Yeltsin regime is its salvation, schemes to install Putin at the head of government. Previously he has tried, and failed, to bribe Putin when the latter was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg. (Putin: "What is a man without honor?" Berezovsky: "Rich, usually.") Later, cast out of office and reduced to driving a taxi, Putin becomes a protégé to Berezovsky, who gets the former KGB officer the top position at the successor agency FSB, then touts him to Yeltsin's daughter (and close advisor) Tatiana as the next prime minister. "He's a little...little," she notes, skeptically. "Little is dangerous," she adds. "Little, in my experience, only ever wants to be perceived as big."

Her words are prophetic; once in power, Putin pulls together the major oligarchs and quietly informs them that the good times are over. Berezovsky, horrified at his Kremlin-based Frankenstein creation, pushes back mightily, but the power struggle is one-sided; Putin's chief enabler ends up in exile, his fortune reduced, suing and failing to recover lost billions, with worse to come. Also dragged into the fray are Alexander Litvinenko (Alex Hurt), Berezovsky's head of security, a once-loyal member of the FSB who meets a ghastly end from radiation poisoning, and Roman Abramovich (Luke Thallon), Berezovsky's partner in the oil business, who deftly maneuvers to keep his billions while staying in Putin's good graces. Looking on from the sidelines in disgust is the Professor, the young Berezovsky's academic mentor, who notes that his student's doctoral study of decision-making and irrationality has become a real-life case study.

Morgan is an old hand at lightly fictionalizing modern historical episodes, but Patriots has an unusual acrid kick because, in this battle, both opponents are equally, if distinctly, corrupt. Berezovsky is the ultimate fixer, certain that he has never met an adversary who can't be bought and in love with the trappings of wealth; he makes a rather strange convert to the cause of human rights, consistently overplaying his hand and losing his strategic edge. Putin initially appears to be a rigid man of honor but is possessed by an outsized sense of grievance made worse by such indignities as NATO's refusal to fast-track Russia's membership. Berezovsky believes in holding his enemies close; Putin simply eliminates them.

Goold's production -- staged on a set by Miriam Buether designed to resemble a glitzy gentleman's club -- moves with the speed of breaking news, paced by announcements of car bombings, Chechen terrorists, and a covered-up fatal submarine accident. (Buether has built a newsroom into the upstage wall where anchors' reports are projected onto the set by Woodward.) The costumes, by Buether and Deborah Andrews, capture the boxy suits favored by Russian politicians versus Berezovsky's casual Friday style. Similarly, Litvinenko's wife Marina (Stella Baker) has a sartorial style sharply at odds with Berezovsky's gaggle of barely legal lady friends. Jack Knowles' lighting is marked by alluring, deep-focus chiaroscuro effects that are highly suitable to this tale of subterranean power plays. Adam Cork's sound design includes explosions, bursts of dance music, balalaikas, TV reporters, helicopters, and more.

Some audience members may be put off by a brutal contest without an obvious hero, a narrative dense with details, and plenty of collateral damage. But Morgan's fascination with chess moves of power is contagious, especially since Putin is so much with us these days and strongmen are so much in vogue. It's a grim tale rendered with tremendous theatricality and considerable wit. And, in Stuhlbarg and Keen, Patriots has an ideally matched pairing of scoundrels. --David Barbour