Tom Hollander Reveals Fear of Russian Threats While Performing in PATRIOTS

Tom Hollander has revealed that he has stopped opening fan mail as he fears being poisoned by an “overzealous FSB agent” during the run of his anti-Putin play, Patriots.

Peter Morgan's play follows the rise and fall of Boris Berezovsky, the billionaire Russian businessman and mentor to Vladimir Putin, during the decline of the Soviet Union. 

Hollander said the cast of Patriots felt a “vague sense” that the play’s subject had become “very dangerous” since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. 

“I did slightly think when we opened this time in the West End . . . ‘Gosh, if there was a very overzealous FSB agent wandering around London with not enough to do on their hands, who wanted to draw attention to themselves and curry favour with the Kremlin, theycould send us all poisoned fan mail,’” he told The News Agents podcast.

Hollander, 55, said that as the war had become “much nastier” since the play was first performed at the Almeida Theatre in July last year, the cast members were hoping nothing happened to any of them.

“But that’s really to exaggerate our significance. We are actors doing a play — isn’t it amazing that we can? It’s one of those moments where theatre becomes as interesting as it’s supposed to be.

“It’s an environment where the issues of the day can be debated in real time in a town square environment,” he added.

According to Hollander, several Russian exiles have cried outside the Noël Coward Theatre following performances. “The story spoke to them of people who’ve left Russia and can’t go back,” he said.

Patriots is at the Noël Coward Theatre until 19 August

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

To post a comment, you must register and login.