New Drama (also described as New Russian Drama) is a Russian theater movement that emphasizes "natural speech" and addresses social issues while avoiding being overtly political. The movement emerged in the 1990s, during the period of

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

. During that time, there were many theaters in Russia, but few new playwrights; the existing theaters produced mostly foreign plays and Russian classics. Some early leaders in the New Drama movement were playwright and director

Nikolay Kolyada Nikolay Vladimirovich Kolyada (russian: Николай Владимирович Коляда; also transliterated as Nikolai Koliada) is a Russian actor, director, writer, playwright, and playwriting teacher. Theatre critic John Freedman names Ko ...

, who was creating new works throughout the 1990s, and Aleksei Kazantsev, who opened the Playwright and Director Center in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1998 to encourage the development of new plays and support new playwrights.

Style

The hyper-naturalist style of New Drama has been compared to the British

In-yer-face theatre In-yer-face theatre is a term used to describe a confrontational style and sensibility of drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s. This term was borrowed by British theatre critic Aleks Sierz as the title of his book, ''In-Yer-Face Theat ...

of the 1990s or the

Angry Young Men The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working- and middle-class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading figures included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis; other popular figures included John ...

British theater movement of the 1950s. New Drama plays often feature violence and obscenities, the latter of which violates a former taboo in Russian theater. Critic John Freedman notes that both violence and obscenity can be unsettling to viewers seeking an uplifting theatrical experience, but that playwrights and directors of the New Drama movement favor the portrayal of the "essence of life as we live it" rather than a romanticized ideal. In the New Drama style, the poetry of theatrical writing gives way to "reality, simplicity, directness, and unblinking honesty."

In Europe and North America

Russian New Drama has garnered the attention of Western audiences through productions in Europe and North America, such as the New Russian Drama series at

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

from 2007-2010, New Russian Drama Festival in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in 2011 and 2012 and the New Russian Drama Week in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2018. The movement is also represented by English-language anthologies such as ''Real and phantom pains : an anthology of new Russian drama'' and ''New Russian drama : an anthology,'' and studied in ''Performing Violence: Literary and Theatrical Experiments of New Russian Drama.''

Notable examples

Plays

* ''Tania-Tania'' by Olia Mukhina * ''Vodka, Fucking, and Television'' by Maxim Kurochkin * ''Oxygen'', by

Ivan Vyrypaev Ivan Aleksandrovich Vyrypaev (russian: Ива́н Алекса́ндрович Вырыпа́ев; pl, Iwan Wyrypajew; born August 3, 1974) is a Polish, Russian-born playwright, screenwriter, film director, actor and art director. He is a leading ...

* ''Oginski's Polonaise'' by

*''The Russian National Postal Service'', Oleg Bogayev

Theaters

* The Playwright and Director Center, Moscow * Teatr.doc, Moscow * Meyerhold Center, Moscow * Kolyada Theater,

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Drama Theatrical genres Russian literary movements