Natalia Pelevine

Natalia Pelevine
Наталья Пелевина
Personal details
Born (1977-11-02) 2 November 1977
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Russian
Political party RPR-PARNAS
Other political
affiliations		 December 5 Party

Natalia Pelevine (Russian: Наталья Пелевина и Пелевайн) (born on 2 November 1977) is a British-Russian playwright, political activist and blogger.

Early years

Natalia Pelevine was born in Moscow.[1] She is of Russian and Polish descent. Her great grandfather, a priest, participated in illegal anti-Communist activities in mid-western Soviet Russia in 1932 and was arrested, further destiny unknown.[2] On her mother's side, Pelevine is a descendant of the Poniatowski aristocratic family.

Pelevine moved to England as a child and attended a private school, Southbank International. She then received BA in Art History from a London University.

Career

Theatre

Pelevine acted in a number of theatre productions and traveled to the Edinburgh Festival where she played Ophelia in Hamlet. Although the production received mixed reviews, her work was singled out and one editorial even said that with her depth the play should be renamed "Ophelia". She also performed in a number of West End productions of Chekhov, Erofeev and Beckett.

In 2004, Pelevine set up a theatre production company, First Act Productions, which is based in London.[3] She wrote In Your Hands, a play based on the events of the Moscow theater hostage crisis.[4][5] It was first staged in October 2006 in North London at the New End Theatre.[6] The Russian version of In Your Hands, directed by Skanderbek Tulparov, had its premiere at the Russian Dramatic Theatre in Makhachkala, Dagestan, in April 2008 and was banned[7] after its opening night performance by the President of Dagestan, Mukhu Aliyev, who attended the performance.[8] Reuters covered the event that was picked up by many major global media outlets.[9][10]

Her play I Plead Guilty had its New York premiere in May 2011 at Gene Frankel theatre.

Political

Pelevine was one of the people behind the independent research into the Moscow theatre siege. A member of NGO Nord Ost, she remains in close contact with Nord Ost and Beslan victims and their families. Pelevine consulted on a number of documentary films about the Moscow theatre siege.[11][12]

Pelevine has appeared as a political commentator on Al Jazeera, RTVi, PressTV, the BBC and other TV and radio channels.[13] She was also involved with the Strategy-31 Abroad organization, which rallied for the article 31 of the Russian Constitution and for freedom and democracy in Russia, and opposes the current government.[14][15] She was the organizer of the New York Strategy 31 pickets, on 31 August and 31 October 2010.[16] She also organized an Oleg Kashin picket in November 2010 and a demonstration in support of Mikhail Khodorkovsky on 12 December 2010, during which she mentioned setting up a new movement.[17] In early 2011, the Democratic Russia Committee was founded by Pelevine and supporters.

Formerly the head of the December 5 Party, Pelevine joined RPR-PARNAS in March 2015.[18]

A criminal investigation into Pelevine was opened by the Investigative Committee of Russia.[19] On March 11, 2016 she was charged with having a recorder disguised as a pen and illegally taping police officials [20]

Personal life

According to The Independent, in 2009 she was engaged to a Russian Special Forces officer, Andrei Yakhnev.[21] They have since split up.

References

  1. ↑ "Play about Chechen hostage-takers shut down". CBC News. 12 April 2008. Archived from the original on 19 May 2008.
  2. ↑ http://martyrs.pstbi.ru/bin/db.exe/spc_transcrip/no_dbpath/docum/oem/ans/newmr/?HYZ9EJxGHoxITYZCF2JMTdG6XbuDferjseuWsOeceG00cC4ceuWd66WWc8qiceXb**
  3. ↑ http://www.firstactproductions.com/
  4. ↑ Holdsworth, Nick (18 April 2008). "Russian 'Hands' waves goodbye". Variety.com.
  5. ↑ Arnold, Chloe (12 April 2008). "Russia: In Daghestan, Curtain May Close On Play Recalling Dubrovka Tragedy". Radio Free Europe.
  6. ↑ Grechaninova, Maria (18 September 2006). "В Лондоне поставили спектакль о Дубровке" [Play about Dubrovka in London]. BBC News (in Russian).
  7. ↑ Walker, Shaun (22 April 2008). "Russia bans play about deadly siege at Moscow theatre". independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008.
  8. ↑ Play banned in Dagestan. YouTube. 16 April 2008.
  9. ↑ http://www.suomenkuvalehti.fi/etusivu/uutiset-ja-politiikka/ulkomaat/venaja-kielsi-moskovan.aspx
  10. ↑ "Playwright alleges Russia gagged political play". Reuters.
  11. ↑ http://www.icarito.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,3255_5700_347819510,00.html
  12. ↑ "Жизнь после "Норд-Оста"". kasparov.ru.
  13. ↑ Perekrestok part 4, Natalia Pelevine and General Kalugin. YouTube. 4 May 2008.
  14. ↑ Solash, Richard (1 April 2011). "Russian Protest Movement Inspires Washington Rally". Radio Free Europe.
  15. ↑ "Strategy 31 in New York with Natalia Pelevine". strategy31.com.
  16. ↑ "Waynakh Online » Protest for Freedom of Assembly in Russia". waynakh.com.
  17. ↑ "Акции в Нью-Йорке и Петербурге в поддержку Ходорковского" [Protests in support of Khodorkovsky]. BBC News (in Russian). 13 December 2010.
  18. ↑ Weiss, Michael (18 May 2015). "Putin's Cronies Nab Another Opposition Leader". The Daily Beast.
  19. ↑ http://sledcom.ru/news/item/1022152/
  20. ↑ http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/03/investigation-reveals-us-funding-of.html
  21. ↑ "Passion, deadly secrets and betrayal in Putin's Russia". independent.co.uk. 21 April 2009.
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