Natal'ya Vorozhbit's

Bad Roads

Writer
Natal'ya Vorozhbit

Translator
Sasha Dugdale

Director
Matt Wilde

Location
The Carne Studio Theatre

View the cast sheet

Dates
Friday 9 February, 7pm
Saturday 10 February, 2pm
Monday 12 February, 7pm
Tuesday 13 February, 2pm
Wednesday 14 February, 7pm

The running time is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

About the show

In this Ukrainian play, four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.

This is an amateur production by arrangement with Nick Hern Books.

Matt Wilde is the Course Leader of the MFA Professional Acting course at LAMDA and is an award-winning Theatre & Film Director. 

He has directed at some of the UK’s leading theatres including the Royal Court London, National Theatre London, Almeida, Old Vic, Soho, Unicorn Theatre, Liverpool Everyman, Edinburgh Traverse and for leading companies including National Theatre, KSF, Out of Joint, Actors Touring Company, Old Vic New Voices, Middle Eastern Theatre Academy and Splendid Productions. His work has taken him to NYC: Broadway, UAE, Europe, Brazil and Mexico.

Matt is also a former Associate Director of the National Theatre Studio and Out of Joint Theatre Company.

Natal'ya Vorozhbit is a Ukrainian playwright and screenwriter who graduated from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in 2000. She has also studied at the International Writers Program.

With German director Georg Zheno, she founded the Theater of the Displaced, where refugees from Donbas can tell their stories. She wrote the screenplay for the feature film Cyborgs about the defense of Sergei Prokoviev Airport near Donetsk, where Ukrainian soldiers fought for 242 days against separatists. Vorozhbit traveled through the war zone for four months and spoke with those involved. The war situation in Ukraine is a frequent theme in her work.

She has previously collaborated with the Royal Court Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.

This play contains adult themes; very strong language which some may find offensive; nudity; scenes of a sexual nature, scenes of sexual assault & abuse, scenes of threat & violence. References to animal cruelty, representations & descriptions of PTSD, mental health disorders, sexism, misogyny, guns, drug use and suicide, and blood. Anti-Semitic slurs, homophobic views and slurs. References to war, death, psychological, emotional and physical abuse, self-harm and pregnancy, grooming underage girls/child abuse.

Please also be aware that this play is set in Ukraine at a time of war, and whilst it is not based on or responding to the current conflict in any way, it could be triggering for anyone impacted by current events.

Creative Team

* LAMDA staff member or visiting artist

Director
Matt Wilde*

Designer
Lizzy Leech*

Lighting Designer/Prod Lx
Ghoti Fisher

Sound Designer
Simon Fleming

Voice Director
Molly Parker*​​​​​​

Movement & Intimacy Director
Adi Gortler*

Fight Director
Sam Lyon-Behan* 
Enric Ortuño*

Costume Supervisor
Caitlyn Keaney*

Wardrobe Assistant
Daniella Burgos Garcia*

Assistant Director
Haiqing Liang

Cast

Commander/Soldier 2
Gabe Acevedo

Girl 1/She
Eve Cowley

Headteacher/Vassya
Vikram Grover

Woman/Girl 2
Daisy Tallulah Hargreaves

Girl 3/Woman 2
Felicity Ison

Woman 1/Vassya Wife
Pei Lin

Soldier 1/He
Will Steadman

Production Team

Stage Manager
Verena Prandstaetter*

Assistant Stage Manager
Heather Trevelyan

Production Manager
Elisabetta Perrotta

Production Sound Engineer
Isabel Buchanan