Nicolas Kent’s concept for a series of short plays on the war in Ukraine is based on his 2009 cycle of dramas about the colonial history of Afghanistan, similarly staged while war raged. A smaller enterprise, with five rather than 12 plays, Ukraine Unbroken packs a punch, rising in both power and horror over the course of the evening.
The opening two are more explanatory and historical, shooting an arrow through the fog of the Russian invasion of 2022 and the subsequent war to lay bare earlier violations. Always, written by Jonathan Myerson, features a politician (David Michaels) and his wife (Sally Giles), trapped in a hotel room as snipers shoot outside at a crowd in Kyiv and captures the history of protest in the Maidan Uprising of 2013-14. David Edgar’s Five Day War dramatises deadly Russian colonial ambition and features preparations for Russian victory with mock press conferences played out, including one imagining President Zelenskyy’s death. It is informative and original in form though harder to connect with than the subsequent plays.
