In the lead-up to the centenary of the Russian Revolution in 2017, a Moscow-based research team, led by the writer Mikhail Zygar, set themselves a challenge: how to make the story of one of the most extraordinary years in Russian and world history relevant to today. Their answer lay in going back to the unmediated source material - diaries, memoirs, newspaper reports - and presenting it as a digital project, a daily feed delivered through social media platforms. The reader/subscriber could eavesdrop on intimate conversations, trenchant commentary and ferocious debates on all sides of the revolutionary struggle. The response to the project was remarkable - Pushkin House produced an English-language version of the website, and in the two years since 2017, publishers Fontanka have worked with Pushkin House and Project 1917 to bring this rich source material together as a book. 

Please join us for the launch of ‘Eyewitness 1917’. We start at 7pm with a short reading of extracts from the book, by professional actors Jed Aukin and Sarah Breen (now fully booked). From 7.30pm the launch itself will begin and you are welcome to join us to celebrate the publication of this book.

Jed Aukin has been acting since graduating from KADA in 2008. Since then he has performed on stage, film and television. He most recently appeared in the Channel Four series TRAITORS.This is Jed’s fourth time performing at Pushkin House. Previously he acted in Kate Seller’s 2012 production of Anastasia and last year he performed in the reading Remembering the Romanovs. He is delighted to be back here again.

Sarah Breen’s theatre credits include: Christine in Miss Julie at The Brunel Museum Tunnel, Julie in Different Heavens at Theatre 503. ‘The Girl Who’ for Kazzum Theatre and Anastasia here at Puskin House directed by Kate Sellars

Her play readings include Oscar Wilde’s ‘A woman of No Importance’ with Artifice at Guilford Theatre and Remembering the Romanovs – Pushkin House.