Bad Roads review: Stranded in its own self-imposed darkness
NATALYA Vorozhbit’s body of work is relentlessly grim.
In its exploration of the effects of war, Bad Roads is relentlessly grim
In its exploration of the effects of war, Bad Roads is no exception.
Not so much a play as a series of vignettes, it is set in the Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
It opens with an interminable monologue from a woman who seems to be researching a film and falls in love with a Ukrainian soldier.
There follows a rather more lively scene between three teenage Russian girls courting disapproval and danger by flirting with Ukrainian soldiers.
The lack of structure prevents the play from flexing its dramatic muscles
A female medic and a fellow soldier get stuck in a jeep containing the body of her lover and finally a girl is abused by a soldier in a basement then gets her revenge.
The lack of structure prevents the play from flexing its dramatic muscles.
Director Vicky Featherstone stirs up sympathy for the characters, especially Ria Zmitrowicz as the girl who turns the tables on her abductor and Vincent Ebrahim, a headteacher stopped at a checkpoint.
But the lack of political context leaves Bad Roads stranded in its own self-imposed darkness.
Nasty.