This year at Llais, we are delighted to be welcoming PUSSY RIOT who will be performing their Riot Days show for the first time in Wales.

Since forming in 2011, Pussy Riot, the iconic Russian feminist protest art collective have made a name for themselves with their unauthorised, provocative guerrilla punk rock performances in unusual public places, which were made into music videos and posted on the Internet.

The collective gained global notoriety when five of their members staged a Punk Prayer performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 2012. On August 17, 2012, three Pussy Riot members - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred", and each was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

In the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, they find themselves more relevant and vital than ever.

Riot Days is a show based on the book of the same name written by Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina and is a personal story of Alyokhina's experience as a member of the collective: actions in the Red Square and the Cathedral, being arrested, the subsequent court case and her imprisonment. The show is an innovative combination of live music, theatre and video.

Riot Days is produced by Alexander Cheparukhin and directed by Yury Muravitsky – one of the leading Russian theatre directors, now the artistic director of legendary Taganka Theatre in Moscow.