Word: yekaterinburg
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Pretty much everywhere is a long way from the Presnyakov brothers' hometown of Yekaterinburg deep in the Ural Mountains. But that's O.K. "A life on the go adds grist to our impression mill," says Oleg Presnyakov, 37, as he and his brother, Vladimir, 32, packed for a trip to Berlin to attend an opening of their 2003 play, Playing the Victim. It's a good thing the duo don't mind life on the road. Their increasing popularity as two of the world's hottest young playwrights has made itineraries like Moscow to Sydney via Tokyo, or Boston...
That's quite a change from four years ago, when Oleg and Vladimir were teaching literature and social sciences at the Yekaterinburg State University, writing little-seen dramas and running an amateur theater they founded in the mid-1990s. But in 2002, a staff member of the British Council, an organization that promotes cultural exchanges, watched rehearsals for the brothers' play Terrorism in Moscow and recommended it to the Royal Court Theatre in London. In spring 2003, Terrorism debuted at the Royal Court, the Presnyakovs' first opening outside Russia. It was roundly applauded by critics - London's Guardian newspaper called...
Today, the Presnyakov brothers' Yekaterinburg theater no longer exists, and their hometown doesn't seem to be aware of their world fame. The brothers shrug it off. They launched their theater, they say, when many people were traumatized by misguided reforms that suddenly wrenched their lives out of joint. The theater tried to help people cope with an uncertain future. These days, however, they see different problems on the rise. "This country is getting rigidly controlled again," Oleg says. "Once the brief spell of freedom shrinks, the state accepts only its controlled appointees, rather than those who spring up spontaneously...
...provinces where reporters take risks in the face of physical threats and professional sanctions, although printers are often too scared to print local newspapers: "The CJES is hearing stories of intimidation of journalists by the authorities from all over the country - from Ingushetia in the Caucasus to Yekaterinburg in the Urals...
...Moscow, now grown opulent and apathetic on petrodollars and compliant to shrinking freedoms, has not seen such a mass demonstration in years. Nor have other cities like St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in the Urals, where mass rallies to pay homage to Politkovskaya were also held. The badly divided remnants of once-strong liberal political parties fail to attract more than a few hundred to their rallies now. Perhaps, not unlike 25 years ago, it takes the funeral of an individual of rare honesty, courage and popularity to jolt the people out of complacency - and to the realization that there...