In July 2019 during the Darwin Fringe, I met a vibrant, funny, and larger than life character named Sveta* who was presenting her show ‘The Sickle Of Life’ as part of the Fringe lineup.

The next day, I met a pleasant, outgoing, chatty festival volunteer named Lana.

It took a good few minutes on that second meeting to realise that the performer and the volly were one in the same person. That’s a good as any recommendation for the skills of an actor as you could hope for.

The chance to see ‘The Sickle Of Life’ passed me by due to conflicting festival obligations, and as you’ll read below, it mostly passed others by due to circumstances beyond Lana’s and the audience’s control.

Not even the former Soviet Union’s security services could fix the problem.

But the show is coming to The Venue at Fannie Bay on Friday 6 December, and will hopefully return to the Darwin Fringe in 2020.

On a mercifully mild November Sunday morning, I met up with Sveta and Lana at The Fannie Bay Coolspot for a cup of coffee and a chat.

Or chats.

* See the bottom of this document for a very important security advice about this website.

Bill Quinn: I hope this interview goes OK, because the only Russian language I know I’ve learnt from Billy Joel: Live In Moscow and The Hunt For Red October. So I trust your English is better than my Russian.

Sveta Lyublyu Knokyablokov: Well, I’ve been learning English, so hopefully you can understand my accent.

BQ: When did you come to Australia and what brought you here?

SLK: I’ve only come recently because I have been in the search for love, and I know my true love is waiting for me. I’ve been looking for him all around Australia… well, maybe it last six months.

And I started in Adelaide, and then I went to the Brisvegas, then I went to the Gold Coast, and I’m searching for this man that I met in Moscow – that’s part of my story – and apparently, he is waiting for me here in Dariwnd.

That’s why I’m here.

BQ: Aha! Now are you talking [about looking for love] generally, or is there a specific person?

SLK: Specific man!

BQ: Ah, see I thought that the problem was you’d run out of men to find in Russia and had come here looking for love.

SLK: Oh, nyet, nyet, nyet. I am saving my treasure chest for special gem.

And you see, I am the last hope for virgin [pronounced ‘wirgin’] bride in Knokyablokov family. It’s getting a bit of a worry for the family, but I am saving myself for the right man, and that’s why I am here because I met him, and I’m here to find him.

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