Terrorism

The extraordinary debut play from the Royal Court by two brothers from Siberia.

A series of seemingly unrelated scenes portray the ordinary frustrations of everyday life: office workers bickering, a couple committing adultery, grannies complaining about their husbands. But the scenes unfold to reveal the mistrust and dysfunction that have become the norm, in Russia and elsewhere.

Terrorism by the Presnyakov Brothers was first performed, in this English translation by Sasha Dugdale, at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2003.

'A play with this title has an obvious resonance right now. But the extraordinary thing about this deft and brilliant piece by Siberia's Presnyakov Brothers is the way it extends... This is a play about the breakdown of society in contemporary Russia. What astonishes is the cool, sardonic wit that the Presnyakov brothers bring to their task... beautifully realised in Sasha Dugdale's translation... Russian society may be in disarray, but, on the evidence of this and the recent work of Vassily Sigarev, a sense of dislocation yields first-rate drama'— Guardian

'A bitter, funny, penetrating look at the toxic effects of living with fear... Terrorism shrugs off more ideas in quarter of an hour's wit than most political debating plays do in an evening'— Observer

“'A play with this title has an obvious resonance right now. But the extraordinary thing about this deft and brilliant piece by Siberia's Presnyakov Brothers is the way it extends... This is a play about the breakdown of society in contemporary Russia. What astonishes is the cool, sardonic wit that the Presnyakov brothers bring to their task... beautifully realised in Sasha Dugdale's translation... Russian society may be in disarray, but, on the evidence of this and the recent work of Vassily Sigarev, a sense of dislocation yields first-rate drama'”

'A bitter, funny, penetrating look at the toxic effects of living with fear... Terrorism shrugs off more ideas in quarter of an hour's wit than most political debating plays do in an evening'

The Presnyakov Brothers - Oleg, born 1969, and Vladimir, born 1974 - are writers, playwrights, screenwriters, directors, producers and actors.Sasha Dugdale is a translator and poet. She has translated the work of many leading contemporary playwrights writing in Russian, including: Bad Roads (Royal Court Theatre, 2017) and The Grain Store (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2009) by Natal'ya Vorozhbit; Playing the Victim (Royal Court and Told By an Idiot, 2003) and Terrorism (Royal Court, 2003) by the Presnyakov Brothers; and Ladybird (Royal Court, 2004), Black Milk (Royal Court, 2003) and Plasticine (Royal Court, 2002) by Vassily Sigarev.She has published three collections of translations of Russian poetry and five collections of her own poetry, most recently Deformations (Carcanet, 2020). In 2016 she won a Forward Prize for her long poem 'Joy', and in 2017 she received a SOA Cholmondeley Award for poetry.She has published two collections of translations of Russian poetry and three collections of her own poetry, Notebook (2003), The Estate (2007) and Red House (2011). In 2003 she received an Eric Gregory Award.

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