Description:
On a farm, in a village, on the fringe of Europe, life is simple but hard. When the sweeping forces of war and progress pass through, Lizaveta must run for her life. Finding shelter on an old woman's farm, she tries to piece her life back together. But her past catches up with her and she must keep moving.
Her journey through a land of mud and blood, icon painters and holy fools, takes her across continents to the other side of the world. Through Lizaveta's eyes familiar places and notions of love, family and identity become distant and strange. Cannibals is a bold and unique play by Manchester playwright, Rory Mullarkey. It is his first full-length play, written while he was Pearson Playwright in Residence at the Royal Exchange in 2011.Brief description: Stockport native Rory Mullarkey graduated in 2009 from Cambridge, after which he studied at the State Theatrical Arts Academy of St. Petersburg. A translator of Russian Drama, Mullarkey's translations have been produced by the ADC Theatre, The Royal Court and the Free Theatre of Belarus. Plays include Single Sex (Royal Exchange); Remembrance Day (Royal Court), Tourism (Headlong) and Come To Where I'm From (Paines Plough). Mullarkey spent 2010 as Writer-on-Attachment at the Royal Court Theatre, London, and 2011 as the Pearson Writer in Residence at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. His The Grandfathers was programmed as part of the National Theatre's 2012 Connections: Plays for Young People. In 2014, Rory Mullarkey won the Harold Pinter Playwriting Prize, the George Devine Award (jointly with Alice Birch) and the James Tait Black Prize for Drama for his play Cannibals, published by Methuen Drama.
Review Quotes:
"The narrative feels as primal and timeless as an orthodox chant, boldly connecting a mythic world of babushkas, icon-painters and holy fools to the plight of abducted east European brides in modern-day Manchester ... Cannibals is not an easy play to watch, or even a particularly easy play to like. But it could be one of the most provocative, original and disturbing debuts since Blasted." --Alfred Hickling, Guardian
"Hard, uncompromising and in its literal sense visceral, there are some truly unappetising moments in this brutal and bloody drama. Yet it is far from being a relentless gore-fest ... There is real tension in the play ... brilliantly exciting drama." --Jonathan Brown, Independent "Mullarkey ... has talent, for seeking out a real subject and for translating it into action on stage." --Susannah Clapp, Observer