THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY,APRIL 29,2013
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
ZUBOVA POLYANA, Russia — A Russian court on Friday rejected a plea for early release from prison by a member of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, whose provocative songs and prosecution have made them a symbol of the country's opposition movement.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who has been in custody since her arrest last March, is serving a two-year sentence handed down after the band staged an irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.
Judge Lidiya Yakovleva said evidence showed that Tolokonnikova did not deserve early release because she had "not always followed the rules of behavior" while in custody.
Tolokonnikova's attorney Irina Khrunova was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying she would appeal on the grounds that the judge did not allow final statements by the defense team.
Tolokonnikova and two other band members were sentenced to prison terms on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. She sought early release after serving half her sentence, a provision allowed by law.
Another of the convicted band members, Yekaterina Samutsevich, had her sentence suspended on appeal last year.
Tolokonnikova, dressed in a Soviet-style dark prison uniform with a white scarf around her neck, told the court that the prison colony where she is serving her sentence did not support her plea of early release because she "didn't repent." Russian law does not make repentance a condition for an early release.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, right, reads papers at a district court in Zubova Polyana, 270 miles southeast of Moscow in Russia's province of Mordovia on Friday. A Russian court is to consider whether one of the jailed Pussy Riot members is eligible for early release. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in custody since her arrest in March 2012, is serving a two-year sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Olivier Awards recognize London stars and entertainers
BRITAIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Helen Mirren was crowned queen of the London stage at the Olivier Awards Sunday, while compelling, canine-titled teen drama "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" emerged as best in show with seven trophies.
Mirren, 67, was a popular and expected best actress choice for her regal yet vulnerable Queen Elizabeth II in "The Audience," Peter Morgan's behind-palace doors drama about the relationship between Britain's queen and its prime ministers.
The actress, who won an Academy Award in 2007 for playing Britain's monarch in "The Queen," quipped that it was
87-year-old Elizabeth who deserved an award, "for the most consistent and committed performance of the 20th century, and probably the 21st century"
"I'm not sure I deserve this. But I've also got sciatica, and I don't deserve that either."
Her "Audience" co-star, Richard McCabe, who won the supporting actor trophy for playing 1960s and 70s Prime Minister Harold Wilson, said Mirren was a joy to work with.
"I was making a joke about the queen winning, but I think actually it is a reflection of the kind of respect the queen is held in," she said.
Backstage, it turned out she wasn't kidding. Mirren, who has been Olivier-nominated three times before, said that finally winning "doesn't mean that I was the best actor. There were so many incredible performances out there."
"It's important as an actor to be absolutely fearless, and she is," he said.
directed show — rumored to be Broadway-bound — McCabe said "a lot of people in the royal household have been coming in and watching incognito, and they must be reporting back."
While the queen herself hasn't been to see the Stephen Daldry-
The surprise of the awards ceremony at London's Royal Opera House was "Curious Incident," an adaptation of Mark Haddon's best-selling young-adult novel about a teenage math prodigy with Asperger's Syndrome who sets out to find the killer of his neighbor's dog, with destabilizing results.
The show, which premiered at the state-subsidized National Theatre last year before transferring to a commercial West End playhouse, has won praise for its creative use of movement
MICAHEL BALL
Actor
and technology to make the leap from page to stage.
The Simon
Stephens-scripted
drama was
named best
new play, and
28-year-old
Luke Treadaway
was crowned
best actor, beating a strong list of contenders including Rupert Everett, Mark Rylance and James McAvoy.
Treadaway said the "Curious" company knew they had created "something really special" with the show about a teenager "who sees the world differently to a lot of people."
through some "magic," succeeded in creating an onstage world as seen through the eyes of a teenage hero with autism.
The play also won prizes for director Marianne Elliott and supporting actress Nicola Walker, as well as for set, lighting and sound.
"This is not even necessary" he said, holding his trophy, a bust of the late actor Laurence Oliver. "I enjoy doing it so much anyway."
"I think people could kind of see themselves in him," Treadaway said.
Walker said the play had.
"You start out thinking (it is completely different to our world, and you end up thinking 'No, there are parts of this world I understand.'
The Olivier awards honor achievements in London plays, musicals, dance and opera. Winners in most categories are chosen by a panel of stage professionals and theatergoers.
Founded in 1976, the Oliviers have been laying on the glitz in recent years, with glossy ceremonies modeled on Broadway's Tony Awards.
"Downtown Abbee" actor Hugh Bonneville and West End star Sheridan Smith — an Olivier winner in 2011 and 2012 — hosted a sparky ceremony that included performances by "Glee" star Matthew Morrison, Tony-winning "Wicked" diva Idina Menzel and 60s songstress Petula Clark.
The best new musical category had a retro feel, with the trophy going to "Top Hat" — a tapdancing, tail-coated homage to Hollywood's Golden Age based on the 1935 Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie. It also won awards for costume design and choreography.
Blood-soaked musical "Sweeney Todd" took the prize for best musical revival, with its stars Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball named best actress and actor in a musical.
"I'm not sure I deserve this," Ball said. "But I've also got sciatica, and I don't deserve that either."
Royal Ballet principal dancer Marianela Nunez took the prize for outstanding achievement in dance, while the same company's "Aeternum" was named best new dance production.
ASSOCIATED PRESS/KANSAN
Helen Mirren winner of Best Actress award for The Audience and Daniel Radcliffe in the press room at the Olivier Awards 2013 at the Royal opera House in London yesterday.
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