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"Ukraine Unbroken packs a punch…a reminder of the vital interventions of theatre in making sense of the world." —Guardian
Charting twelve turbulent years of modern Ukrainian history, from the Maidan protests of 2014 to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and beyond, Ukraine Unbroken is a powerful cycle of short plays about courage, truth and survival in the face of an existential threat.
Across five gripping plays by some of today's most acclaimed British and Ukrainian writers, this volume explores the resistance and resilience of a nation determined to remain free.
Always by Jonathan Myerson depicts a married couple held hostage in a hotel in 2014 as their son protests in Maidan Square below.
Five Day War by David Edgar takes a darkly comic and sinister look at the ambition and delusion of Russia's 2022 "Special Military Operation," the invasion that was "mot an invasion."
Three Mates by Natalka Vorozhbyt, translated by Sasha Dugdale, explores the shame of survival in a darkly humorous confession from a Ukrainian man hiding from conscription.
Wretched Things by David Greig tells the story of Ukrainian front-line troops who have captured a wounded soldier and must decide whether to risk their own lives to save his.
Taken by Cat Goscovitch confronts the harrowing reality of the twenty thousand Ukrainian children stolen by Russia, following one mother's search for her daughter.
This collection includes a foreword from Nicolas Kent, who conceived and directed the project at Arcola Theatre, London, in 2026.
"A group of artists coming together in the belief that something must be said; that theatre cannot apathetically sit back; that uncomfortable truths and hideous memories matter…these plays remind us of horrors to which we've arguably become inured."
—London Standard
"Captures the weight and complexity of conflict…a compassionate reminder of the individuals caught up in war."
—Financial Times
"Sobering facts and intriguing moral dilemmas crackle in this collection of short plays about the war in Ukraine…it underscores the corrosive impact of Russia's war of attrition, and the heroic determination of Ukraine's continued resistance."
—The Stage
"Genuinely moving…laced with dark humour and quiet devastation."
—All That Dazzles
"An engaging piece of theatre as well as a powerful piece of political commentary…Each play feels unique."
—Theatre Weekly
"Extraordinary…sometimes theatre can place us carefully and mercilessly in the room and try to make us understand the experiences of those caught up in war, and the political forces sweeping over them…Nicolas Kent does this here."
—TheatreCat
"A well-structured, emotionally powerful night at the theatre."
—Reviews Hub
David Edgar has been writing plays professionally since 1971. His accolades include the John Whiting Award for DESTINY; the Plays and Players Best Play award for MAYDAYS; the Society of West End Theatres and New York Tony Best Play awards for NICHOLAS NICKLEBY; and the Evening Standard Best Play award for PENTECOST. In 1989, he founded Britain's first graduate playwriting course at the University of Birmingham, and was appointed Professor of Playwriting Studies in 1995. He was Humanitas visiting Professor of Drama at Oxford in 2014-15. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has honorary degrees from several universities, including Bradford, Birmingham, Warwick and Worcester. He writes regularly about art and politics for The Guardian, The London Review of Books and other journals.
Cat Goscovitch grew up in Northumberland. Her father was the playwright, C. P Taylor, best known for GOOD, and her mother was a therapist. She escaped to London as a teenager and recorded the album Fantanicity in 1996 for Sony under the name Nut. She is the writer of independent feature film THE TURTLE AND THE SEA (2016), which won best local picture at The Birmingham Film Festival and is available on Amazon Prime. She has written a radio play, THE WOOD CUTTER, about an English woman's friendship with a Yazidi refugee. She has written a play, A Russian Doll (2021), directed by Nicholas Kent, which had its world premiere at The Barn. She is currently creating and writing the TV series Tribe, about war and belonging, and the TV series, Giant, based on her experience in the music business.
David Greig is a Scottish playwright and director. His work has been produced at London's Royal National Theatre, the Royal Lyceum Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as around the world. His play Europe was performed at the Traverse Theatre in 1994. in 1990, he co-founded Suspect Culture, which produced collaborative, experimental work until their funding ended in 2010. In 2016, he became the Artistic Director of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre. In 2023, he published his first novel, Columbia's Bones.
Jonathan Myerson has been teaching creative writing for over twenty years—most recently at City University London but previously at Bournemouth University, for the Arvon Foundation, and for the Writers Practice. He is the author of two novels, Noise and Your Father, both published by Headline Review, with a third on the way. As a dramatist, he has written for TV (The Bill, Medics, EastEnders) and extensively for radio (Life and Fate, The Way We Live Right Now, The Clintons and Number 10, which won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Drama). He was nominated for an Oscar for his animated film of The Canterbury Tales, which also won a BAFTA. His two most recent podcast series— Nuremberg and Nazis: The Road To Power, both dramatized retellings—have registered over eight million downloads to date.
Natalka Vorozhbyt is a Ukrainian playwright and a leader in the resurgence of Ukrainian national drama in the 21st century. She graduated in 2000 from Moscow’s Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow, and also studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop. She was a Visiting Fellow and Ukrainian Writer in Residence at St Hugh's College, Oxford for the 2023-24 term. She was named a member of PEN Ukraine in May 2024. Her first major play, Galka Motalko, had success shortly after she graduated from the Gorky Institute. The Grain Store, a historical work about the Holodomor, the state-induced famine in Ukraine in the 1930s, was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London in 2009. Vorozhbyt took part in the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in 2013–2014, and the theme of the ensuing war with Russia has colored her work ever since. In 2015, she was a co-founder (with Georg Genoux) of the Theater of Displaced People, which offered an opportunity for refugees from the Donbas region to tell their stories in a formal, theatrical context. She wrote the screenplay for Cyborgs, a 2017 film about the bloody defense of an airport in Donetsk against Russian separatists. Bad Roads (2017) was staged at the Royal Court Theater in London, and, as a film directed by the author, was Ukraine’s official Oscar selection in 2022.