Presnyakov brothers
Encyclopedia
The Presnyakov Brothers are writers, playwrights, screenwriters, directors, producers
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...

 and actors.

The sons of an Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian mother and a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n father, Oleg was born in 1969 and Vladimir in 1974.

Both brothers graduated from the same school: M. Gorky Urals State University in Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...

, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

.

Until recently, they were both also on the faculty of that same university: Oleg in literary theory and philology, and Vladimir in literary theory and psychology.

Together, the two founded the university’s Youth Theatre, "Theatre under the name of Christina Orbakaite",an organization committed to producing experimental theatre work.

Oleg and Vladimir also write in tandem; all their plays are presented and published under their chosen joint name: The Presnyakov Brothers.

Students of language, the Presnyakov brothers are praised in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 for their attention to natural-sounding speech, dialogue that sounds “overheard on the street.” Their cool, sardonic wit enlivens their plays, and together, they create bitter and funny examinations of life in a post-Soviet Russian culture
Russian culture
Russian culture is associated with the country of Russia and, sometimes, specifically with ethnic Russians. It has a rich history and can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts, especially when it comes to literature and philosophy, classical music and ballet, architecture...

.

"Since their first play appeared in Russia's capital city, the Brothers Presnyakov have become "something of a trademark," wrote the local English-language daily, The Moscow Times, in a review last year(2004)."- The International Herald Tribune,Theater: The everyday facets of 'Terrorism', by Erin E. Arvedlund, MAY 27, 2005.

Plays

  • Z.O.B (1999)
  • Floor Covering (2000)
  • Europe-Asia (2000)
  • Terrorism (2000)
  • Set-1 (2001)
  • Set-2 (2001)
  • Captured Spirits (2002)
  • Playing the Victim (2002)
  • Bad Bed Stories (2003)
  • Something about technologies of how to live life (2003)
  • Resurrection. Super. (2004)
  • Pub (2005)
  • Before the flood (2006)
  • Magic horse(2008)
  • Hungaricum(2009)

Screenplays

Bed Stories (Postelnye stseny, Постельные сцены)(2005); Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov

Playing the victim (Izobrazhaja zhertvu, Изображая жертву)(2006); Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov
  • Grand Prize Winner, 1st Rome Film Festival, Italy
    Italy
    Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

     (Cinema 2006) October 13–21, 2006.
  • Won best Screenplay Award in Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    , 2007.


Europe-Asia{Европа-Азия}(2009); Directed by Ivan Dihovichnij{Иван Дыховичный}

Day D. {День Д}(2008) Directed by Mikhail Porechennkov {Михаил ПОРЕЧЕНКОВ}

Novels

  • Let's kill the referee!


Original title{Братья Пресняковы:Убить судью}(2005)

Language: Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 
  • The novel has been translated and published in German language
    German language
    German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

    .(2007)

Published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.
Title in German- {Brüder Presnjakow: Töten den Schiedsrichter}
  • The novel has been translated and published in Hungarian language
    Hungarian language
    Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

     as well.(2007)

Published by Gabo Kiado, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

.
Hungarian title- {Oleg es Vlagyimir Presznyakov: Öljük meg a bírót!}
  • The novel has been translated and published in Romanian language
    Romanian language
    Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

    .(2009)

Published by Editura Art, Bucuresti.
Romanian title- {Fratii Presniakov: Ucide arbitrul!}
  • Playing the victim: The novel

Language: Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 
  • Europe-Asia: The novel, Европа — Азия

Published by AST{AСТ,Астрель}.Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, 2009.
Language: [Russian].

Plays published

  • Terrorism


Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...

,London, 2003.

Language: English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 
  • Playing the victim


Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books
Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, 2003.

Language: English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 
  • The Best


Published by Eksmo{Эксмо}, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, 2005.
Contains Playing the victim-play, Floor covering-play, Captured Spirits-play, Terrorism-play, Something about technologies of how to live life-play.

Language:Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...


  • Pub


Published by AST{AСТ,Астрель}.Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, 2008.
Contains Bad bed Stories-play, Before the flood-play, Pub-play

Terrorism

Terrorism is the duo’s best known and most widely performed play.

Synopsis: Six scenes from urban life. Delayed passengers grumble about a bomb scare at the airport. A man and a woman commit adultery. Office workers bicker while one of their number quietly exits to hang herself. Two grannies in a playground complain about their menfolk and make fun of a man seated on the next bench. Policemen in their barracks scrap amongst themselves. The passengers on the plane finally prepare for take off. By the end we realise these apparently random scenes are in fact linked by an almost invisible thread, subtly indicating that we bear responsibility for one another even in our soulless urban limbo.
  • It premiered at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre
    Moscow Art Theatre
    The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...

     in 2002, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, winning that theatre’s annual competition for best new play, an award funded by the Russian Ministry of Culture.

  • Translated by Sasha Dugdale, directed by Ramin Gray, designed by Hildegard Bechtler, the Royal Court Theatre
    Royal Court Theatre
    The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

     in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

     took the play, where it became a critical and popular success, 2003.

  • Terrorism has been performed across Europe
    Europe
    Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

    , in Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

    , Sweden
    Sweden
    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

    , Poland
    Poland
    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

    , Norway
    Norway
    Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

    , Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

    , Ireland
    Ireland
    Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

    , Estonia
    Estonia
    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

    , etc., and out of Europe, in Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

    http://www.darlinghursttheatre.com/page/2006_shows.html, Chile
    Chile
    Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

    , Brazil
    Brazil
    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

    , Taiwan
    Taiwan
    Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

      etc...

  • It had its American
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

     premiere off-Broadway
    Off-Broadway
    Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

     in May, 2005 in a co-production between The New Group
    The New Group
    The New Group, an Off-Broadway theater company located at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, is an artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. Founded by Artistic Director Scott Elliott, The New Group produced its first play, Mike Leigh's...

     and The Play Company in New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

    . directed by Will Frears; sets by David Korins; costumes by Sarah Beers; Presented by the New Group
    The New Group
    The New Group, an Off-Broadway theater company located at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, is an artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. Founded by Artistic Director Scott Elliott, The New Group produced its first play, Mike Leigh's...

    , and the Play Company. At the Clurman Theater/Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street
    42nd Street (Manhattan)
    42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...

    , Clinton
    Clinton
    Clinton is an English family name, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton. Clinton has frequently been used as a given name in the United States since the late 19th century, probably originally in honor of DeWitt Clinton or one of his famous relatives...

    ; http://www.thenewgroup.org/history.htm, http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Photo_Op.aspx?ci=512890, -The New York Times
    The New York Times
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...


  • In Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

    , USA, Studio Theatre
    Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.)
    The Studio Theatre is a non-profit theater production company located at 1501 14th Street NW, Washington DC in the 14th Street corridor of Washington, D.C...

     staged in June 2005. Directed by Keith Alan Baker; http://www.studiotheatre.org/second_stage/production_history.php


  • Fragments from play in English
    English language
    English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

    , English Studies Forum, by Kevin Ewert, University of Pittsburgh
    University of Pittsburgh
    The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

     at Bradford
    Bradford
    Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...


Playing the victim

Playing the Victim wasfirst staged at the Traverse Theater as part of the Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 Fringe Festival (co- produced with the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

) and Told by an Idiot in 2003. Directed by Richard Wilson.

Playing the Victim revolves around Valya, a student who gets a job playing the victim in police crime-scene reconstructions. Even though they are simulated, his repeated participation in one gruesome end after another highlights the violence and brutality endemic in contemporary life. Meanwhile, in a parallel plot that parodies Shakespeare, the ghost of Valya's father tells him that he was poisoned by his brother who later married Valya's mother. While the finale is inevitable — Valya takes his mother, his uncle and his girlfriend (who has become a bit too insistent about getting married) to a final meal — its setting is not: a Japanese restaurant where he feeds them fugu, a fish that's filled with lethal toxins unless filleted perfectly. (The film version of the play, for which they wrote the screenplay, won the Best Film prize at the Rome Film Festival 2006.)

Synopsis: A young man drops out of university and goes to the police. He's done nothing wrong he just wants a job. A particular job. Playing the victim in murder reconstructions. He has a fear from death. Maybe by getting close to death he can manage to cheat his own

In the British version of Playing the Victim, for example, the police captain who reconstructs murders gets bumped off — and his murder gets reconstructed by another captain. Including their rewrites, the brothers can't recall how many plays they have penned. - Time Magazine, Two for the road, interview with the brothers Presnyakov, 2006.

Interviews

  • "Two for the road", Time Magazine, interview with the Presnyakov Brothers, by Yuri Zarachovich,


"A life on the go adds grist to our impression mill," says Oleg Presnyakov.

Not that any of the Presnyakovs' delicious plot twists are ever final, mind you. "We love remaking our works," says Vladimir. "Playing with our characters again and again lets us see how their situations are developing."

"We have often wondered if just one of us exists, while the other is just a figment of his imagination," says Vladimir. "Except," adds Oleg, "we never got to sort out which of us is which."


"People are very informed about what's happening in the world, but it seems to us it's important that people be conscious of the idea and not fence off or partition their fears," Vladimir said.

External links

at Inernet Movie Database
  • Literary Managers&Dramaturgs of Americas http://www.lmda.org/blog/_archives/2006/6/15/2034457.html
  • http://www.lmda.org/blog/_archives/2006/6/9/2020841.html
  • http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=5010
  • http://www.wspolczesny.pl/teatr/rep/of.html
  • http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=775769
  • http://www.rian.ru/culture/cinema/20070709/68621745.html
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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