The title of this 1-hour political monologue suggests the mystery and delight of the Matryoshka dolls, the stacking dolls that are a classic souvenir of tourists to Russia which implies ever more interesting revelations as they are unpacked. This nested doll metaphor implies an object within an object is revealed in the secrets behind the Facebook stories that influenced the 2016 Brexit Referendum. However, the monologue is monotone with a steady level of unemotional delivery in a heavy Russian accent that needed some variation in tone, a little light relief and a genuine feeling of fear of the consequences of not complying with the paymaster's instructions.
Rachel Redford who graduated from RADA in 2013 plays Masha, a Russian undergraduate in St Petersburg who is recruited into the misinformation team of the FSB, the Federal Security service responsible for counterterrorism and the protection and defence of the state. She mines social media for data on influencers in the UK and then subtlety feeds them information to stir up and amplify fears in a cyberwar to affect the outcome of the referendum. We never meet Jay-Z the misnamed leader of the unit or her co-worker Dima and I think it would have been more interesting if we had to add to the dynamism of the piece. Redford does well as the cold almost mechanical cyber warrior who likes cold coffee and cold food and is as unemotional as Putin himself.
