SRF Events

Forthcoming events listed below. For details of past events see our Annual Reports in publications.  All welcome.  Times, venues and other details vary - please check carefully.

Thurs 18 and Fri 19 March :: Bloody Mary at Pushkin House

The Scotland-Russia Forum and Freestage Theatre present
A play by contemporary Russian playwright Dmitri Boyko
BLOODY MARY

Translated into English by Michael Falchikov
Music by Michail Gnesin
Director Yelena Gudkova-Schellenberg
Producer Svetlana Shevchenko
Cast: Yelena Gudkova-Schellenberg, Dewi Wynne Jones, David Crosbie, Mary McMahon, Nick Halliwell
Following the success of the premiere of contemporary Russian play Bloody Mary in Edinburgh, the Scotland-Russian Forum in association with Pushkin House will present the play in London. It will be on for two days in March 2010 followed by Questions & Answers sessions with the cast.
The author described the genre of Bloody Mary as “an evening cocktail”. However, his play is not a mixture of vodka and tomato juice, it is a mixture of something romantic and chaotic, funny and desperate, equally challenging and profound. It is a love story of Mary and John who try to reveal the future by digging up the past and… dealing with their younger selves. This playful piece of nonsense, full of absurd humour, explores the great effort we invest in seeking fulfillment and harmony.


Sponsored by the St. Andrew Society of Russia

Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2TA. 
18-19 March, 7.30pm (1hr 15min plus Q&A)
Tickets: £12/£10 (concessions, incl members of SRF and GB-Russia Soc)
Box Office: tel. +44 (0)20 7269 9770 or email bookings@pushkinhouse.org.uk
See www.pushkinhouse.org

Sat 20 March :: Bloody Mary in Cambridge

Sponsored by the Cambridge Russian Speaking Society (www.camruss.com) and the St Andrew Society of Russia

Upper Hall, Centre at St Paul’s, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1JP
20 March, 7.30pm
Tickets: £7/£4
Box Office: on the door

Friday 9 April :: Business in Russia conference

An all day conference and networking opportunity at the University of Edinburgh Business School, Bristo Square, Edinburgh. Speakers include the Russian Consul General, the chief economic counsellor at the British Embassy in Moscow, the director of RBCC, the senior economic advisor at the Russian Trade Delegation and businesspeople with successful experience in the Russian market.  At the end of the day delegates can book one to one meetings with representatives of the SDI, UKTI and RBCC - or a taster Russian language class run by the SRF.

Programme and enrolment details here. For more information tel. 0131 668 3635 or email info@scotlandrussiaforum.org

Thursday 15 April :: The Icon and the Book. A brief survey of spirituality in Russian Literature

Dairmid Gunn, a vice president of the Scotland-Russia Forum, will explore the contribution made by 19th century Russian writers to the development of Christian thought and the promotion of Christian ideals against a background shaped by the late 18th century Enlightenment and the later emergence of Marxism as a powerful political creed. The exploration will extend to the 20th century to include the significance in Christian terms of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago.
7.30pm, Scotland-Russia Institute, 9 South College St, Edinburgh EH8 9AA
All welcome.  Donations £2 (SRF members), £5 (non-members) payable at the door.
NB Booking essential as space is limited: phone 0131 668 3635 or email info@scotlandrussiaforum.org

Wednesday 28 April :: Чай н Чат

11am, Scotland-Russia Institute, 9 South College St, Edinburgh EH8 9AA
All welcome for sparkling Russian conversation over tea and cakes. No charge but contributions of cakes / help with washing up welcome. Contact 0131 668 3635 for more information.

We hope to have a visiting group from the Urals Scottish Society here on that morning - watch this space!

Friday 30 April :: Only when the first tower block falls. Social and Economic Impacts of Climate Change in Russia

Lecture by Nicholas Colloff.
Only when the first tower block falls was the response from on OECD expert on Russia when asked: 'When would the Russian government take it seriously?'
But climate change has already begun to have a significant impact on Russia. This talk will explore how these are unfolding with regard to infrastructure, health and migration patterns; and, how Russian policy is responding or failing respond to the challenges.

Nicholas Colloff is the Director of Strategy and Innovation at Oxfam GB and was from 2005-2009 Oxfam's Country Director in the Russian Federation. He helped found Russia's first microfinance institutions in the 1990s and his father's family originates (in the pre-revolutionary mists of time) from St. Petersburg.
[Pictures: river Argun in Chita region that is disappearing and Vologda Christmas 2008, usual temperature -30deg]

We are grateful to Edinburgh University Politics Society for finding us a room for this lecture.
6.30pm, Room 175, Old College, University of Edinburgh. All welcome.  Donations £2 (SRF members), £5 (non-members) payable at the door. Staff and students of Edinburgh University will not be asked for a donation.

Wednesday 19 May :: Painting the Dream - The World of Socialist Realist Painting

A lecture by Christina Lodder to accompany our exhibition of Socialist Realist art (see Exhibitions 14 May - 5 June).
Socialist Realism dominated painting in the Soviet Union from the mid 1930s until the late 1970s. This talk will look at the beginnings of the theory and practice of this hybrid style in the 1920s, will consider its basic precepts and contradictions, and will discuss some of its major masterpieces.
Christina Lodder is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She is a specialist in Russian art of the first four decades of the twentieth century and has published numerous articles and books, including Russian Constructivism (1983); Constructing Modernity: The Art and Career of Naum Gabo (2000, with Martin Hammer); Gabo on Gabo: Texts and Interviews (2000, co-editor with Martin Hammer); Constructive Strands in Russian Art (2005); and Rethinking Malevich (2007, co-editor with Charlotte Douglas). Her current research focuses on Kazimir Malevich’s architectural projects.
6.30pm, Hawthornden Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland.  Free entry, all welcome.

Friday 4 June :: Народные календарные праздники

Лекцию читают Андрей и Ольга Резунковы. На русском языке, со слайдами и видеофильмом.
Lecture in Russian.
Резунков Андрей Геннадьевич - физик, старший научный сотрудник Центра сердца, крови и эндокринологии, доктор философии МАИСУ, член Русского географического общества, руководитель общины Крина, разработчик календарной системы Коловорот, исследователь календарных праздников.  Резункова Ольга Петровна - биофизик, кандидат биологических наук, доцент Университета Телекоммуникаций, доктор науки и техники МАИСУ, член-корреспондент РАЕН, член Русского географического общества.
Время, в котором мы живём, делится на праздники и будни. В будни мы зарабатываем хлеб насущный, в поте и в труде. Но приходит праздник, когда начинает петь душа, когда хочется думать не только о том, как накормить свою плоть.
Праздник в пространстве ноосферы подобен геоактивным зонам в пространстве Земли и биоактивным точкам в пространстве организма. Праздник – сакральное время, противопоставленное времени будней. Это разрыв «мирского» времени, когда люди освобождаются, «опорожняются» от повседневных дел и забот. Праздники тяготеют к особым местам, многие храмы (святилища, капища и др. места проведения священных обрядов) располагаются на геоактивных точках Земли.
В докладе пойдёт речь о календарных праздниках, о космической ритмике и о возможности гармонизации жизни человека и общества с помощью правильно и своевременно организованных праздников с показом фото и видиоматериалов о годовом круге праздников

7.30pm, Scotland-Russia Institute, 9 South College St, Edinburgh EH8 9AA
All welcome.  Donations £2 (SRF members), £5 (non-members) payable at the door.
NB Booking essential as space is limited: phone 0131 668 3635 or email info@scotlandrussiaforum.org