Ukraine 1929. As Stalin launches the first of his Five-Year Plans, a closeknit rural community stands unwittingly in the path of his drive to create a thriving socialist Soviet Union. The outcome is catastrophic.
What begins for the people of the village as an amusingly alien concept rapidly becomes an unstoppable force for change. Robbed first of their land, then their religion and independence, the whole country soon becomes engulfed by a tragedy that will scar a nation for generations.
Natal'ia Vorozhbit's play The Grain Store was first staged in this English translation by Nina Raine by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2009.
'A grim subject, but this extraordinary play by Natal'ya Vorozhbit tackles it, in Sasha Dugdale's translation, with passion, intelligence and cunning' – Guardian
'A disturbing vision of socialist dogma degenerating into corrosive megalomania' – Evening Standard
Circa l’autore
Sasha Dugdale is a translator and poet. She has translated the work of many leading contemporary playwrights writing in Russian, including: Bad Roads (Royal Court Theatre, 2017) and The Grain Store (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2009) by Natal'ya Vorozhbit; Playing the Victim (Royal Court and Told By an Idiot, 2003) and Terrorism (Royal Court, 2003) by the Presnyakov Brothers; and Ladybird (Royal Court, 2004), Black Milk (Royal Court, 2003) and Plasticine (Royal Court, 2002) by Vassily Sigarev.
She has published two collections of translations of Russian poetry and three collections of her own poetry, Notebook (2003), The Estate (2007) and Red House (2011). In 2003 she received an Eric Gregory Award.