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World Premiere of SILENT PLANET Set for Finborough Theatre's 20 Premieres Season

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Directed by Tom Mansfield. Designed by Petra Hjortsberg. Lighting by Rachel Bottomley.
Sound by Duncan Grimley. Movement Direction by Jennifer Jackson. Presented by Rianna Dearden for Upstart in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.

"And there is another planet, like ours. They can't see the sky, on that planet. Because their atmosphere is like a mirror. They look into the sky and see only themselves and the things they've made. So everything in their world can easily be understood. All they want is to be safe and comfortable. They fatten themselves on poison food. And when they look into the sky, they are struck dumb. By the greatness of their works."

Part of the Finborough Theatre's Winter season of new writing, the world premiere of a first play by an exciting new playwright, SSILENT PLANET by Eve Leigh opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 25 November 2014.

At the height of the Cold War, dissident writer Gavriil is detained in a Soviet mental prison as a punishment for protesting against the government. His only escape is the prison library, a treasure store of banned literature available to the patients, but off-limits to the prison staff. His interrogator, Yurchak, offers to protect him from torture in exchange for sharing the forbidden stories. Their agreement will help them both find a kind of freedom, at the risk of their lives.

Inspired by an incident in the life of writer, activist and neurophysiologist Vladimir Bukovsky, Silent Planet is a love story about our love of stories, a passionate and poetic fable about the power of literature in a world in which the wrong words can get you killed.

SILENT PLANET is Eve Leigh's first full length play. It is directed by Tom Mansfield, Artistic Director of Upstart and director of the critically acclaimed The Situation Room and Oh Well Never Mind Bye.

Theater Fans' Choice Awards
2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats
Best Lead Performer in a Musical - Top 3
1. LJ Benet - The Lost Boys, A New Musical
15.2% of votes
2. Joshua Henry - Ragtime
14.6% of votes
3. Nicholas Christopher - Chess
9% of votes

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