Skip to main content
NEU job advert
Amour fou infused with Slavic gloom
MICHAEL STEWART surveys a tale of thwarted love infused with Polish folk and heavy doses of anti-communist sentiment
HEROIC PEASANT WORKERS: The cast of Cold War [Marc Brenner]

Cold War
Almeida Theatre, London

CONOR MACPHERSON’s Cold War, based on Pawel Pawlikowski’s film, the winner of a best director prize at Cannes, is a musical adaptation of this bittersweet on-off love story which showcases Polish folk music and several new Elvis Costello songs. 

Pawlikowski partly based it on the experiences of his parents. 

Luke Thallon plays Wiktor, a musical director and struggling composer who is scouring Stalinist Poland for folk songs. He meets the passionate and talented singer Zula (Anya Chalotra) and sparks fly. He is smitten and they both fall deliriously in love. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
moon
Theatre review / 27 June 2025
27 June 2025

MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play

HOMOSEXUAL REPRESSION: Kingsley Ben-Adir as Brick and Seb Ca
Theatre Review / 19 December 2024
19 December 2024
‘There's outrage aplenty in this production but we never quite get to the dark night of the soul,’ writes WILL STONE
(L to R) Oliver Sidney, Madeleine Morgan, Folarin Akinmade,
Theatre review / 19 December 2024
19 December 2024
'Witty and highly entertaining without being didactic,' writes JAN WOOLF
(L to R) Cat McKeever as Olivia's Attendant, Daniel Millar a
Theatre Review / 13 December 2024
13 December 2024
SIMON PARSONS questions whether a dark take on Shakespeare’s Seasonal comedy is in harmony with the original text