Fringe 2025 – Life in One Suitcase
This music and dance performance tells the deeply moving story of Ukrainian people who fled their home after the start of the war. At the heart of the performance is a suitcase. Simple, yet deeply symbolic. Children and adults share their experiences of leaving home, saying goodbye, and beginning again in a new country. Inside every suitcase is a life.
The piece offers audiences a window into the emotional world of displaced Ukrainians, told in their own voices and shaped by their courage and imagination. They express themes of love, loss, and the promise of tomorrow, demonstrating how creativity helps them process change and find joy amid uncertainty.
Presented by Mission of Innocents. Creative direction by Oksana Saiapina. With support from the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (Edinburgh). Special thanks to Anthony Alderson and Pleasance Theatre Trust for making this special event possible.
Mission of Innocents is a grassroots initiative that nurtures the healing and self-worth of children displaced by war, economic or political instability and environmental disasters. Through arts-based programming it offers young people tools for healing, expression, and empowerment through music, dance, storytelling, poetry and the visual arts. Since its founding, the initiative has provided ongoing support and a sense of belonging to resettled Ukrainian children and families in Scotland. The charity was founded by Joyce Landry and began on board two ships docked in Leith and Glasgow to house Ukrainian refugees after the full scale invasion.
LIFE IN ONE SUITCASE AT EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2025
15 AUGUST 2025 | 15:30 | 60 mins | PLEASANCE EICC (PENTLAND THEATRE)
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Scottish Sun
10 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Inside the sex-crazed world of Russian oligarchs with brutalised OnlyFans model, infamous sex coach & Kremlin mistresses
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FROM a notorious "seduction" coach to near-naked sex parties, the assault of an OnlyFans model has laid bare the sex-crazed underworld of Russia's elite. Humiliated Vladimir Putin has imposed various crackdowns on the "debauched" Russian elite in recent years - but his own aides are said to be flying out mistresses and partaking in sordid sex parties. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 13 Russian self-proclaimed sex guru Alex Lesley and his women Credit: East2West 13 OnlyFans model Maria Kovalchuk was allegedly chased and tortured by rich Russians at a party in Dubai 13 Russia had a 'Naked Partygate' scandal in 2023 Credit: East2West Kremlin insiders say Russia's sex-crazed elite and their sleazy antics have always been there - with the war with Ukraine bringing some of it to light. A source told The Sun: "Putin hates when the elite ostentatiously display their wealth, decadence or disgusting perversions for everyone to see, especially when we are fighting in Ukraine. 'But the partying goes on. Behind the walls, out of sight, the wild excesses go on.' The dictator himself has been embroiled in sex scandals - allegedly sharing two children with his "First Mistress" Alina Kabaeva. Another source said Putin's secret £1billion palace on the Black Sea was built with a striptease stage and pole dancing boudoir, which may - or may not - have been removed. The Kremlin insider added: "Many of Putin's circle - men in their 60s and 70s, like him - have young lovers, sometimes several. "It's not like the West here. Their private lives are hidden from the world and the lurid details never - or seldom - appear." 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It comes after Ukrainian OnlyFans model Maria Kovalchuk, 20, was allegedly chased and tortured by rich Russians at a party in Dubai. After missing her flight to Thailand, Maria said she was offered a place to stay by a 19-year-old man she had recently met at a karaoke bar. 13 OnlyFans model Maria Kovalchuk, pictured in Norway with her mother Anna Credit: East2West 13 She went missing before being found with a broken spine at a construction site Credit: East2West 13 Maria had to have her scalp sewn back on with horrific medical images showing a huge scar on the top of her head Credit: East2West He claimed his father could fly her out on a private jet. But then the man and his friends tortured her instead, the model claimed. The traumatised model described how the group began smashing bottles and glass on the floor, making her unable to walk barefoot, and said they took her passport and belongings. 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Both Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko denied wrongdoing. Following her claims, Vashukevich, known online as Nastya Rybka, was arrested. At the time of her detention she was in Thailand, where she had been running a bizarre four-day 'sex training' class alongside none other than Kirillov. They spent nine months in custody - before a Thai court handed them a suspended 18-month sentence for soliciting and running an illegal "sex training course". Vashukevich and Kirillov were then deported to Moscow in January 2019 and arrested - but later released. The controversy with Kirillov came to light in June when at least 10 young women went public saying they had being groped by his vile fans in Moscow. Russian MPs then complained to authorities before the Investigative Committee opened a case against him. They said he had 'induced his followers to commit illegal acts of a sexual character towards female residents of the capital'. Twisted Kirillov told local media: "If we lived in America or Germany, God forbid, then it could result in serious consequences. Thankfully, we are in Russia." Kremlin 'mistresses' Closer to the Kremlin, one of mad Vlad's officials was reportedly flying his 23-year-old mistress around on $100million military jets. Maria Shalaeva claimed she was jetted on a defence ministry Ilyushin-76 aircraft for a getaway to Rostov-on-Don - the same location of Russian armed forces war headquarters. Local media reported Putin's defence minister Andrei Belousov, 66, as the suspected lover. 13 Maria Shalaeva boasted about taking an armed forces plane to the closed airport in Rostov-on-Don for a weekend getaway Credit: East2West 13 Shalaeva posing in the back of an army plane 13 Shalaeva says her lover is a 'Kremlin man' Credit: East2West His photograph appeared on a video she posted. It is also clear from one video that her lover has grey hair - as does Belousov - who was a Kremlin apparatchik before becoming defence minister. There are also indications that her man - apparently seen in shorts on the plane - could be younger than Belousov. Whether the affair is Belousov or another senior official figure in the Russian power structure, the disclosure reportedly triggered fury over what is seen as a security breach. Military sources indicated that the Kremlin 'sugar daddy' had been visited at work by the secret services after the mistress's revelations. Shalaeva, from Yekaterinburg, said her lover is 'a Kremlin man, though, that's another story. Reliability level is 200%.' She admits to bringing her three-year-old son Tim on the trip - sparking speculation that it could be her lover's child. 'At three years old, he's already flown in a military aircraft,' she posted. 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Edinburgh Reporter
4 days ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Fringe 2025 – Life in One Suitcase
A powerful one hour long performance created and performed by Ukrainian children and adults who resettled in Scotland in 2022 will take to the stage for one night only at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025, at Pleasance EICC. This music and dance performance tells the deeply moving story of Ukrainian people who fled their home after the start of the war. At the heart of the performance is a suitcase. Simple, yet deeply symbolic. Children and adults share their experiences of leaving home, saying goodbye, and beginning again in a new country. Inside every suitcase is a life. The piece offers audiences a window into the emotional world of displaced Ukrainians, told in their own voices and shaped by their courage and imagination. They express themes of love, loss, and the promise of tomorrow, demonstrating how creativity helps them process change and find joy amid uncertainty. Presented by Mission of Innocents. Creative direction by Oksana Saiapina. With support from the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (Edinburgh). Special thanks to Anthony Alderson and Pleasance Theatre Trust for making this special event possible. Mission of Innocents is a grassroots initiative that nurtures the healing and self-worth of children displaced by war, economic or political instability and environmental disasters. Through arts-based programming it offers young people tools for healing, expression, and empowerment through music, dance, storytelling, poetry and the visual arts. Since its founding, the initiative has provided ongoing support and a sense of belonging to resettled Ukrainian children and families in Scotland. The charity was founded by Joyce Landry and began on board two ships docked in Leith and Glasgow to house Ukrainian refugees after the full scale invasion. LIFE IN ONE SUITCASE AT EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2025 15 AUGUST 2025 | 15:30 | 60 mins | PLEASANCE EICC (PENTLAND THEATRE) Like this: Like Related
ITV News
4 days ago
- ITV News
'I want people to remember how close it is': Oscar-winning Ukrainian filmmaker on new documentary
Two thousand meters; it isn't very far. A short stroll; no more than that. But in Ukraine, as film-maker Mstyslav Chernov tells me: 'Every meter of land is someone's life and someone's blood.'' His new documentary, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, is raw reportage from the front line of a single battle; harrowing, heart-breaking and often very hard to watch. The fight is through a narrow strip of woodland to recapture a village seized by the invading Russians. Chernov walked every step of the way with Ukraine's Third Assault Brigade. He returned alive. Many more did not. "My main goal was to keep the memory of those people - and to honour them and their names,'' he says. ''To express the strength of Ukrainian soldiers who are protecting the land that I call home.'' Almost every soldier we meet along the way is ultimately doomed. There are no Hollywood heroes; just men, filled with fear, doing their duty. And yet Hollywood has already honoured Chernov for his previous film, 20 Days in Mariupol. In his Oscar's acceptance speech last year, he said he would gladly swap the award for a Russian retreat from Ukraine. It can't be easy to inhabit such different worlds; to tread the red carpet one moment and then to cower in a muddy trench. "It is a paradox,'' he says. "The existence of those red carpets in normal life… and then you travel across a couple thousands of kilometres and you just cross the border, take a train, take a car, and you are back in time 100 years. "Or sometimes it feels like another planet. It's so different. "But if you turn on the Russian television, they will keep saying that it takes only 20 minutes for a Russian nuclear bomb hit London, or it will take only 24 hours for Russian tanks to reach Berlin. "I just want people to remember how close it is and how real it is." It is, he says a film, about distance and how deceptive that can be; the length of the woods becomes a chasm the solders must bridge; the thousands of miles between the front line where so many sacrifice their lives and the political leaders making the actual decisions likely to decide Ukraine's fate. As we speak, America seems to be losing faith that Vladimir Putin will agree a ceasefire. I ask him if he'd like to screen the film for President Trump. "I would love to screen this film for the political establishment in US,'' he replies. "Just to pierce the bubble. The political bubble, abstract bubble, and just bring a little bit of reality. "There is so much false information that reaches the ears of politicians who are making big decisions. I'd love them to see things how they really are.'' 2000 Meters to Ardriivka brings the grim reality far too close for comfortable viewing. In the end, the soldiers achieve their objective but it's a costly and fleeting victory. The Russians soon return. No film, I have seen, captures so well the futility of war – nor, its absolute necessity for those defending their homeland. 2000 Meters To Andriivka is in cinemas from Friday.
