The Showman review: How war and Vladimir Putin turned Volodymyr Zelensky from clown to commander

His instinct as showman for timing and communication at the most human level has been the making of him as leader and saviour of his nation. But for his performance, brilliant innovation by professional and amateur fighters, and sheer Russian incompetence, Kyiv surely would have fallen within days of Russia’s invasion in late February 2022. Yet Zelensky had only been catapulted from showbiz into the presidency three years before in 2019. He was a successful media businessman as well as entertainer, with a rich variety of contacts among the oligarchs and influencers in Kyiv and Moscow, where most of his productions were based. He grew up in the rundown industrial town of Kryvyi Ri, in a Jewish family who spoke Russian rather than Ukrainian.