The Ships Pass Quietly at Subiaco Arts Centre

The Ships Pass Quietly - The power of the word - the turbulent life and work of celebrated Russian poet Anna Akhmatova is brought to the stage.

Subiaco Arts Centre Studio, June 23 to July 11

Tickets: Preview $10 / Adults $32.80 / Concession $27.50 / Students $18.00 / Children $15.35

Bookings: www.bocsticketing.com.au or 9484 1133

Freedom of speech is the eternal flame Western Australian playwright John Aitken’s remarkable tribute to Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, The Ships Pass Quietly, will be revived at the Subiaco Arts Centre Studio from June 23 to July 11. Based on the turbulent life of the celebrated Russian poet, The Ships Pass Quietly was originally produced at The Blue Room to acclaim with Vivienne Glance as Akhmatova. The Ships Pass Quietly presents the life of Akhmatova as well as her work against the backdrop of revolutionary Leningrad. A literary celebrity in pre-revolutionary St Petersburg, she fell foul of the party line and her reputation and family were attacked. Despite her husband being shot and later her son imprisoned in Stalinist gulags to buy her silence, Akhmatova continued to write. Her poetry was seen as so subversive that friends memorised the words and then burnt the physical evidence.