Playing the Victim

Playing the Victim is a sartyrical comedy written by the Russian brothers, Oleg Presnyakov and Vladimir Presnyakov (generally known as the Presnyakov Brothers)[1].

The original text

Set in a city somewhere in central Russia, the play is a darkly absurd play about a young man who drops out of university and goes to the police to get a job, playing the victim in murder reconstructions. The action alternates scenes between the young man and his bored and boring parents, with scenes showing the re-enactment by the police of various real-life crimes.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English as Playing the Victim by Sasha Dugdale. Performed by the Told by an Idiot theatre company at the Royal Court Theatre and published in the NHB Modern Plays Series by Nick Hern Books in 2003.

In 2008 Saartjie Botha translated it into Afrikaans as Om Soos 'n Lyk Te Lê ("To recline like a corpse").

Performance history in Souths Africa

2008: The Afrikaans version was performed at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn.

Sources

https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Playing_the_Victim.html?id=ER4GJQsGF3YC&redir_esc=y

https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Victim-Oleg-Presnyakov/dp/1854597590

https://www.loot.co.za/product/the-presnyakov-brothers-playing-the-victim/zmgh-634-g740

Beeld, 23 January 2008.

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