Russia, Freaks and Foreigners: Three Performance Texts

Russia, Freaks and Foreigners is a collection of three thematically linked plays set against the backdrop of a fractured, post-Soviet Russian society. Written by acclaimed playwright James MacDonald, who has cerebral palsy, these performance texts critique accepted notions of normality within authority, offering various models of difference—physical, cultural, and moral—and their stories of dislocation. Their themes, contextualized here by companion essays, expand the boundaries of British drama and connect to the comic grotesque tradition by giving the “abnormal” a broad appeal. Russia, Freaks and Foreigners is a daring portrayal of disability from the inside.