Mother Russia

A comedy by Lauren Yee receiving its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre, set in St Petersburg in 1992 as the post-communist market opens up.

Mother Russia is a comedy set in St Petersburg in 1992, as communism gives way to a market economy full of new products. Two old friends, Evgeny and Dmitri, see espionage and racketeering as the quickest route to a secure future, and their first assignment is to keep watch on Katya, who has spent time in the West and has a past of her own. Evgeny quickly falls for her, which is awkward when every word she says is being recorded.

Lauren Yee's acerbic comedy is the UK premiere of a play that ran at Signature Theater in New York. It asks whether the newly free market will deliver the personal freedoms it promised. Yee's earlier plays include Cambodian Rock Band and The Great Leap.

The production is directed by Oscar Toeman, with this as a Hampstead Theatre debut; recent stage work includes Double Indemnity on UK tour, Hundred Feet Tall on an Old Vic tour and Farewell Mr Haffman at Park Theatre. Hampstead Theatre is on Eton Avenue in Swiss Cottage, north London.