大象传媒

Inspired by true events, Orlando Wells' irreverent and anarchic comedy tells the story of two scientists tasked with embalming the body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin for public display.

It's 1924. Lenin is dead. Stalin has seized power and his shadow falls over the lives of millions of Russians. A group of senior Bolsheviks, the self-proclaimed Immortalisation Commission, request the services of two scientists to aide their cause: ensure the Revolution鈥檚 survival by building a shrine to their deceased messianic leader. The country's future hangs in the balance; the Communist regime is still in its infancy and a personality cult might be instrumental in legitimising Russia's new overlords. Although it has never been done before, the scientists are under no illusion of the consequence of failure.

Vladimir . . . . . Matthew Steer
Boris . . . . . Ashley Margolis
Faina . . . . . Rhiannon Neads
Krasin . . . . . Kenneth Collard
Dzerzhinsky . . . . . David Hounslow
Lenin . . . . . Gyuri Sarossy
Nadya . . . . . Ruth Everett

The guitarist is Ian Dunnet Jnr.

Studio managers: Peter Ringrose and Alison Craig.
Sound design: Peter Ringrose.
Production co-ordinator: Gaelan Davis-Connolly.
Director: Sasha Yevtushenko.

Orlando Wells is a writer and an actor. Lenin Forever! is his first radio play. He has also written five original theatre plays: The Winter Room (RSC fringe festival), Cold Enough, The Tin Horizon (Theatre 503), Four Days in Hong Kong (The Orange Tree) about Edward Snowden鈥檚 exposure of the NSA鈥檚 spy programme, and The Woodcutter鈥檚 Tale. He adapted Patrick Hamilton鈥檚 The Duke in Darkness for the Chiswick Playhouse; and co-wrote the libretto for the experimental opera, Triptych, at the Print Rooms and Wilton鈥檚 Music Hall. He was a series-writer for the animated children programs Xolight and Noksu.