It’s been called Brokeback Mountain mixed with Top Gun, and Firebird draws on a true-life Cold War story and follows a handsome soulful young soldier, who embarks on a clandestine affair with a charismatic fighter pilot on an air-force base in Soviet-occupied Estonia at the height of the Communist rule of the 1970s.
It comes to the stage for the first time after an acclaimed multi-award winning film version, which premiered at the LGBTQ+ Flare film festival in 2021 to coincide with the English translation of the original memoir.
The cast, at London’s Kings Head Theatre, is led by Robert Eades and Nigel Hastings. The show is directed by Owen Lewis and produced by James Seabright.
Writer Richard Hough is a playwright and lyricist who started his career as a comedian. His stage credits include a gender-swapping Death In Venice. As a comedy writer his credits include The Now Show and Loose Ends.
The play is based on the original memoir and the 2021 film. It runs 9 January – 9 February.
Image credit: Steve Ullathorne
