REVIEW: Riot Days, Pussy Riot, EdFringe 2025 ★★★★★

In a room where the air is thick with sweat, three balaclava-clad women, voices raw and full-throated, scream anti-Putin lyrics whilst kicking and punching the air. Drums thunder around the space as smoke coils around the glare of red strobe lighting. 

The Russian feminist performance art collective Pussy Riot needs little introduction: over the past decade, they’ve become one of punk’s most recognised names, staging unauthorized guerrilla gigs in public spaces that challenge Putin’s regime whilst championing feminist and LGBTQ+ rights. They return to the Edinburgh Fringe with ‘Riot Days’ – the dramatisation of long-time member Maria Alyokhina’s memoir of the same name. 

Pussy Riot’s ‘Riot Days’ is an electrifying, high-octane piece of art theatre which sizzles with rage and makes you feel exhilaratingly alive yet unflinchingly aware of the injustices and war crimes that continue to be committed today. Together, performers Maria Alyokhina, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, and drummer Eric Breitenbach form an incendiary quartet, unleashing a razor-sharp set that fuses spoken word and electronica into a full-throttle riot.

Blending documentary footage with English captions that translate the entirely Russian-language performance, the narrative traces Alyokhina’s journey with the group, beginning with their surge to global recognition in 2012, when three members – Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich – were imprisoned for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after their Punk Prayer protest inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Following the trial were two years of imprisonment, including solitary confinement, police brutality and public punishment, told through a performance that is as equal parts defiant and angry as it is humane and compassionate. There are still flickers of witty conversational play despite the weighty subject matter – reflecting the group’s iron-willed refusal to be stripped of their humanity. 

Politically loaded messages flash up on the screen in aggressive black font – ‘Welcome To Hell’ is burned onto the screen at one point. Another pivotal moment; the names and faces of political prisoners are splayed on the screen in rapid succession. The riotous tone then shifts into one of tragedy as the group highlights the story of Russian journalist Irina Slavina, who in 2020 set herself on fire outside the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an act of deliberate political protest. The inclusion of CCTV footage of the act, a moment which was harrowingly difficult to watch, elicited audible reactions from the crowd; a gutter-punch moment where the real-world stakes of dissent and oppression are visceral. Such a performance moves beyond spectacle; it’s a rallying cry to remember those who have given their lives to speak truth to power. 

The show also covers the shock of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in February last year in a remote Arctic penal colony, as well as the atmosphere of total control in Sochi, and the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms in Chechnya. These moments underscore the true purpose of ‘Riot Days’; an urgent reminder to scrutinise the liberties we often assume as guaranteed. What happened to those in Russia could very well have happened to us here in the UK – and still might. 

About halfway through, I was fully drenched in water thrown from the stage, and then only narrowly dodged being hit by one of the numerous water bottles that were hurled into the audience. Having recovered from the initial shock, I found that it was actually a pleasantly cooling experience (the room grew unbearably hot – a tribute to the outfit’s spirit-rousing capabilities), although I did leave the venue dripping. Still, it was as invigorating as the show itself – a literal wake-up call to the state of the state. As Alyokhina dons an ‘I stand with Ukraine’ t-shirt at the end of the show, it’s a reminder that activism, solidarity and the fight for justice is urgent and ongoing – it is now. 

Pussy Riot are a searing reminder of how art can be used as a weapon against tyranny. The lengths that this musical collective (they are more than a band, they are a movement) will go to is nothing short of extraordinary. A war cry against systems of control, ‘Riot Day’s radiates a distinct, infectious energy – one that imbues everyone in the room with the unmistakable sense that they, too, are an activist.

Recommended Drink: A shot of neat, unflavoured vodka.

Catch Pussy Riot: Riot Days at Summerhall between August 13th – 23rd at 22:00 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.