In the summer of 1939 in a small Moscow theatre, a company of actors begins rehearsals of a new play to commemorate Stalin’s 60th birthday. It’s a tough gig, because for Soviet artists working towards the Radiant Future, the old showbiz maxim ‘the show must go on’ is an order you can’t refuse.

Another opening, another show trial! Realism is a comedy of nerves, a backstage farce set in a pressure cooker. It’s about the spirit that makes art live and the forces that want to crush it.