This performance began with Kurt Swinghammer’s song-cycle Vostok 6, a musical exploration of the Soviet mission that took Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman, into space. Several things struck us about this profound moment in history. It happened in the summer of 1963 – a year that would prove to be the most volatile in the Cold War between the Americans and the Soviet Union; it didn’t take too much research to see precisely how the ‘space race’ between these super-powers was just a supplement to the steadily intensifying arms race. From this intense, multi-faceted struggle emerges Tereshkova, a relative outsider to the Soviet space program, with little experience beyond membership in a parachuting club. Can she be considered a symbol of equality in the Soviet Union or was she just pawn in the propaganda battle of the Cold War. 

Swinghammer playfully speculates about Valentina’s relationship with another cosmonaut, Andrian Nikolayev, to whom she was briefly married; a marriage arranged by none other than Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Prime Minister, himself. We liked this idea, only we’ve taken it a step further. We’ve speculated about Valentina’s love for a childhood sweetheart – we call him Andrea – and how her relationship to him might be symbolic of her relationship to herself, to her childhood devotion to the dream of space travel. We considered her tremendous public success, and wondered how much this resembled her dream, and what cost she may have paid privately for her public stature. After her flight she received the Order of Lenin, was honoured as a Hero of the Soviet Union; and received an honourary commission in the Soviet Air Force; however, during her flight she was not permitted to take manual control of the spacecraft due to a presumption of her ‘psychological instability’, her marriage to Nikolayev ended in less than two years, and thus Khrushchev’s dream of a ‘space family’ was lost.

We could relate to Valentina Tereshkova because like many involved in this project she is pursuing a dream. In our career-driven world we may all feel our dreams become grounded by harsh circumstances; yet, somehow we must continue to dream and engage with the playfulness and fantasy intrinsic to all dreams. In this sense there may be a real connection between our dreams of space and our dreams of theatre. In our project, with humble means, we have tried to materialise the Soviet space program. Realistically, this is an impossible task, but in a sublime way we have tried to trace the unbearable distance between our dream and the means at our disposal. It has been a mission full of poignant amusement, and a process to which I now welcome you.

This performance is very much a collective creation, and I am indebted to the skill and innovation of the cast and crew.