The Drunks
Mikhail and Vyacheslac Durnenkov
The Drunks
A provincial town is in search of a hero. A shell-shocked soldier downs vodka on his return from the frontline in Chechnya. As Ilya arrives home he stumbles into the epicentre of an extraordinary power struggle that threatens to tear the town apart. In this darkly comic and free-wheeling epic, the Durnenkov Brothers get to the heart of small town politics and what it means to please all of the people all of the time.
3.0 out of 5 based on 4 reviews
|
Omniscore:
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| Location |
Stratford-Upon-Avon |
| Venue |
RSC Courtyard |
| Director |
Anthony Neilson |
| Cast |
Adam Burton, David Carr, Brian Doherty, Darrell D'Silva, Dyfan Dwyfor, Phillip Edgerley, Christine Entwisle, James Gale, Paul Hamilton, James Howard, Richard Katz, Sandy Neilson, Jonjo O'Neill, Peter Peverley, Sophie Russell, Clarence Smith, James Traherne, Hannah Young Charles Aitken |
| From |
August 2009 |
| Until |
October 2009 |
| Box Office |
0844 800 1110 |
| |
A provincial town is in search of a hero. A shell-shocked soldier downs vodka on his return from the frontline in Chechnya. As Ilya arrives home he stumbles into the epicentre of an extraordinary power struggle that threatens to tear the town apart. In this darkly comic and free-wheeling epic, the Durnenkov Brothers get to the heart of small town politics and what it means to please all of the people all of the time.
Reviews
The Evening Standard
Henry Hitchings
"Anthony Neilson’s cacophonous and startlingly kinetic production is full of bold images and zest. We feel as though we are watching a big, bilious cartoon larded with magic-realist gimmickry and a cheeky S&M aesthetic that’s part Tarantino, part Torture Garden. The performances are arresting. Besides menacing D’Silva, Richard Katz stands out as a loquacious writer, and Christine Entwisle as a glacial mayoral aide."
25/09/2009
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The Financial Times
Ian Shuttleworth
"The piece is a blacker descendant of The Government Inspector, and Neilson incorporates extra Gogolian verve into Nina Raine’s translation. Yet in spite of the big issues [The Drunks does not feel] weighty enough to stand in the first rank of a programme of work as significant as the RSC envisages this to be."
27/09/2009
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The Guardian
Michael Billington
"Whatever the play's limitations, Neilson's production and Tom Piper's design make it a rich spectacle... Jonjo O'Neill's stony-faced Ilya is the admirably still centre of a production filled with ebullient performances... In the course of two hours, we are taken on a colourful tour through small-town Russia. I enjoyed the ride, but didn't learn much. I hope future plays in this ambitious project offer us fresh perspectives on Russia's scarred landscape."
24/09/2009
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The Times
Benedict Nightingale
"Anthony Neilson’s production of Mikhail and Vyacheslav Durnenkov’s Drunks is more fun, but not a lot more comforting [than The Grain Store]... [The Drunks] is full of ebullient expressionistic effects and reminders of Gogol’s The Government Inspector, but deeply cynical, even despairing."
26/09/2009
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