Thrilling political drama. Collective Imagination. Playing Putin.
Patriots on Broadway is a political thriller written by Peter Morgan, writer of The Crown. You don’t need to know much about politics to be wrapped up in this electric drama to understand what’s happening in the world and on stage, especially with a little use of collective imagination. Lets dive into a little about what makes Will Keen’s (Putin) process and approach to this play, which also happens to be his Broadway debut.
Will Keen has just closed the West End transfer of Peter Morgan’s Patriots, directed by Rupert Goold, for which he won the Olivier Award for Supporting Actor last year. He most recently wrapped “My Lady Jane” and the second series of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” both for Amazon, as well as indie feature Borderland opposite Felicity Jones and Mark Strong. He is currently on screens in “The Gold” (BBC1/Viacom), “Ridley Road” (BBC), and “The Pursuit of Love” (BBC) opposite Andrew Scott and Emily Beecham. His other TV credits include “His Dark Materials” seasons 1 and 2, “The Crown” seasons one and two, “Genius,” “Picasso,” “Wolf Hall” and “The Musketeers.” Stage credits include Ghosts, Waste (Almeida); Quartermaine’s Terms (Wyndham's Theatre); The Arsonists (Royal Court); and Mary Stuart (National Theatre).
In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the new Russia belongs to its oligarchs—and no one is more powerful than billionaire Boris Berezovsky. When an eventual successor to President Boris Yeltsin is needed, Berezovsky turns to the little-known deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin. But soon Putin’s ruthless rise threatens Berezovsky’s reign, setting off a riveting, near-Shakespearean confrontation between the two powerful, fatally flawed men.
Tony® and Emmy® Award nominee Michael Stuhlbarg stars as Berezovsky and Will Keen reprises his Olivier Award-winning turn as Putin in PATRIOTS, a shockingly timely history play from Peter Morgan, creator of “The Crown.”
Don’t miss this strictly limited engagement of Olivier Award winner Rupert Goold’s kinetic, exhilarating production, which reveals to us all how Russia's post-Soviet machinations continue to shape our world to this day. Patriots is playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre through June 23rd.