Firebrand (5)

Borders-Based theatre company Firebrand visits Lochside with Peter Arnott’s acclaimed tale of female Russian World War II fighter pilot Lily Litvak, the so-called ‘White Rose of Stalingrad’.

White Rose, unseen since its hugely successful debut at the 1985 Edinburgh Festival, is a powerful triangular love story about men and women fighting in the air, on the ground and in the bedroom.

One thousand extremely talented women pilots volunteered for the Red Air Force during the SecondWorldWar. An impressive thirty Citations of Hero of the Soviet Union went to women pilots, and three regiments of the Air Force were made up entirely of women, some of whom, like Lily, became the stuff of legend.

Seen from the point of view of Lily and her mechanic Ina, two women in a maledominated world, White Rose offers an insight into modern warfare and concepts of patriotism that are as relevant today as they were then, within an exciting, moving and thought-provoking theatrical experience.