Performing Violence: Literary and Theatrical Experiments of New Russian Drama

Performing Violence by Birgit Beumers and Mark Lipovetsky is the first study dedicated to the so-called “New Drama” — one of the key phenomena of the Russian culture of the 2000s. Theoretical approach to the subject is combined in this book with a thorough analysis of the best-known representatives of the New Drama theatre movement, their dramaturgy and productions. According to the authors, the significance of this new cultural phenomenon lies not only in the rejuvenation of contemporary theatre and playwriting, that it has brought about, but also in the way that it reflects a distinct mood that has taken hold in the post-Soviet Russian society. At the core of this Zeitgeist is violence — physical, psychological or discursive: a dominant form of social communication in contemporary Russia that has engulfed or subjugated all other types of social languages. The young stage directors and playwrights who identify with the New Drama seek to comprehend the inner logic, the many rituals and dead ends of this condition, while trying their best to find the solution to the current social malaise and map the route to recovery.