The Russian Minute

"What I loved most about her was when she practised the 'Russian minute.' Do you know what that is? No? Whenever she was about to leave an apartment, a garden, or a place that had touched her, she would say: 'One little moment more—sit down, and take in the space around you one last time.'" Lisa was born in Vienna in 1929 into a family of communist activists. The rise of fascism forced them into exile and hiding. After several years of uncertainty, she was reunited with her parents in Moscow in 1936, where she grew up under Stalin's regime. In 1968, her meeting with the writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a former Gulag prisoner, marked a turning point in her life. Together, they secretly smuggled manuscripts to the West, helping bring about the publication of one of the twentieth century's most influential books: The Gulag Archipelago. The company's inaugural production, The Russian Minute, draws inspiration from the remarkable life of Lisa Markstein, Zaïmoon's grandmother, who witnessed the profound social and political upheavals that shaped twentieth-century Russia. The performance highlights resilience and resistance in the face of authoritarian power while weaving an intimate connection to Lisa's story of struggle and exile. The Russian Minute is an invitation to slow down, pause, look back and reflect on where we come from. Beyond its historical dimension, this story is also a heartfelt tribute to our grandparents—those beloved figures whose lives were often rich, extraordinary and, at times, truly heroic.