Into the Whirlwind - Noel Coward Theatre, London

It's easy to look backwards and see some of the ideals that we have lost, but in Into the Whirlwind at the Noel Coward Theatre, London, we get a chance to look back to see how the minds of the past failed society.

The play is a stage adaptation of Yevgenia (Eugenia) Ginzburg's memoirs of her political arrest in the Russian Gulag during the height of Stalin's purges. Caught in the political aftermath of the assassination of Sergei Kirov, Ginzburg was accused and convicted of participating in a counter-revolutionary Trotskyist Group. As a result she spent the better part of fifteen years in prison.

The stage-adaptation of her memoirs have become one of the most significant plays in Russian theatre and now they are taking centre stage at the Noel Coward Theatre, London.

The play will be performed in Russian on the 21st and 22nd January 2011 with English surtitles. Though this will not make it the most accessible play of 2011, it'll definitely add a significant chunk of diversity to the start of the theatre year.

Support from Roman Abramovich has helped the Sovemennik Theatre bring Yevgenia Ginzburg's memoirs to the West End in Into the Whirlwind; proving that not all riches are wasted.

Tickets start at £19.50 (exc. booking & transaction fees) for balcony seats and go up to £39.50 for the stalls and the grand circle.