Atomic Tales

Atomic Tales is a dramatic monologue about the Chernobyl disaster, told through the memories of Lyudmila, the wife of one of the firefighters sent to the plant. Performed by Elena Arvigo in English and Italian, it is less interested in reconstructing the disaster than in the experience of living through it.

The language choice (switching between English and Italian) just feels off. While I understand the production began in Italy, in this Scottish performance it could have been switched to Ukrainian, perhaps Russian, and would have felt more in keeping. For a story so rooted in a particular place and history, that feels almost disingenuous.

But the bigger problem is that the story is already very familiar. This is, essentially, the classic Chernobyl story, immediately recognisable to watchers of the HBO dramatisation. Sadly the production does not find enough of a new angle to justify its retelling.

There is a worthwhile story underneath it, particularly in the focus on the wife of a firefighter and the personal consequences of the disaster. Elena Arvigo is extremely intense, but the acting is melodramatic and a little overdone, leaving little space for the material to be heard on its emotional weight alone.

Atomic Tales has an important and potentially affecting story at its centre, but the material feels too familiar and the performance pushes too hard.

Atomic Tales by Elena Arvigo / Rhymes with Purple / Santa Rita Teatro.