An absurdly humorous Russian TV evening news broadcast in which the spectres of contemporary Russia and the Soviet past appear in a terrifyingly matter-of-fact manner.Inspired by the works of the Belarusian Nobel winner Svetlana Alexievich.

Multi-genre project The Last of the Soviets inspired by the works of Svetlana Alexievich, in particular her books Secondhand Time, The Unwomanly Face of War, Chernobyl Prayer and Boys in Zinc, which reflect on modern Russian history in the form of the Chernobyl tragedy in Ukraine, the Soviet-Afghan War and the Great Patriotic War. The poetic stylings of the show – evocative of live cinema and dripping in cruel black humour – bring to mind the best work of the world-renowned surrealist artist and filmmaker Jan Švankmajer.

The leads are taken by the Russian performers Inga Mikshina-Zotova and Roman Mikshin-Zotov, who have been living and working as artists in Prague for many years. Their authenticity and ability to sharply elucidate the shared Russian present and Soviet past bring veracity and a scarcely believable shot of dark humour to the production. The show is framed within a news broadcast of an official Russian TV station which, as the amount of information intensifies, degenerates into an absurd encounter with contemporary Russian reality.