A mental hospital, five prostitutes and an Olympic flame.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but these are the ingredients of a timely resurrection of a Russian play.

Entitled Stars in the Morning Sky, this tale of social exclusion was first told by Alexander Galin in 1980 when Moscow was 'cleaning up' before the arrival of the Olympic Games.

"These women wanted to celebrate the arrival of the games," says actor and co-producer of the show Rachel Fishwick.

"But Soviet authorities swept prostitutes off the streets like rubbish to make sure they were kept out of the public eye."

The parallel today is in China, where people are being imprisoned for expressing political views in the lead up to Beijing's games, but Rachel, 28, says:

"This kind of thing could happen anywhere. London will be trying to do its best to present the most 'sanitised' picture
to the world come 2012, we can only try to manage how that is done."

The action unfolds on the edges of Moscow in an abandoned mental home.

It is here that five prostitutes are hearded by police and left to sit out the celebration.

Stewing in the darkness, reflections on their lives and that of Russian society made this one of Galin's most celebrated plays.

It is the third production by theatre company Jagged Edge, set up by Rachel and her two friends, Emily Dobbs, 25, and Emilie Patry, 28.

All three graduated together from Central School of Speech and Drama, Swiss Cottage, in 2005.

"After graduating we found that a lot of the best roles available catered for men," Rachel says.

"We wanted to take control and make sure we weren't just playing girlfriends or mothers of central male characters."

Stars in the Morning Sky, by Alexander Galin, is at the Riverside Studios until August 17. Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Sun 6pm, Sat mat 2.30pm. £14/10 concs. Call 020 8237 1111. See www.riversidestudios.co.uk