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A theatrical response to an imagined encounter between two seminal figures of the 20th Century - the dictator Joseph Stalin and the Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich. Set in 1950, this highly charged piece explores the confrontation and interaction between the Absolute Ruler and his prodigious People's Artist. This is the beginnings of an ambitious piece fusing text, improvisation and live music into a visceral collision of cultures with startling and revealing consequences. The ensemble is John Telfer as Stalin, Peter Swaffer-Reynolds as Shostakovich and Jon James as the live pianist.