An entertaining display, clearly destined for Netflix: Patriots, at Almeida Theatre, reviewed

Patriots, by Peter Morgan, is a drama documentary about recent Russian history. And though it’s a topical show it’s not entirely up to date. The central character, Boris Berezovsky (1946-2013), was a schoolboy maths wizard who went into academia and published 16 books before entering politics. His Jewish background excluded him from the leadership of Russia so he became king-maker to Boris Yeltsin. An early contact, the deputy mayor of St Petersburg, asked for Berezovsky’s help. The rising youngster seemed to be harmless, malleable, and rather needy so Berezovsky installed him as a tame prime minister. Thus Vladimir Putin’s career began.

Berezovsky owned a TV station that criticised the handling of the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000. And Putin was incensed. Warfare began and Berezovsky realised he’d blundered by creating a dictator whom he couldn’t restrain. Even a billionaire has no defences against a man who controls the police, the courts and the prisons. Berezovsky was driven into exile in England where he was found dead in a mansion near Ascot. All this is set out in dozens of short, sharp scenes which use the narrative structure of TV rather than the stage.

Director Rupert Goold opens his box of tricks and lays on an entertaining display of visuals that skilfully conceal the fact that the show consists of greedy thugs talking about business deals and plots to commit theft and murder. It’s like watching a game of Monopoly that lasts far too long. Not much new information emerges. Did you know that Berezovsky wrote nothing on paper and concluded billion-dollar deals on the strength of a handshake? Well, now you do. Women and children barely feature and this omission badly damages the characters’ emotional breadth.

Although Berezovsky is drawn as a satisfyingly rounded human being, the portraits of Putin and Roman Abramovich are thin and weightless.