Playing the Victim
Playing the Victim is a sartyrical comedy written by the Russian brothers, Oleg and Vladimir Presnyakov.
Contents
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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