Connections Plays 2012
The Grandfathers
by Rory Mullarkey
The final draft of UK national servicemen took place in 1960 but in many countries across the world thousands of young people are still called up by law to serve in their nation's armed forces. Is this a valuable rite of passage, or is taking up arms something that should only be done by choice?
Inspired by the system in Russia, The Grandfathers is a visceral, physical and fast-paced new play about training young people to fight.
Cast size 9
Age suitability 15-19
Rory Mullarkey
Rory is from Stockport. He graduated in 2009 from Cambridge University with a first class degree in Russian, Latin and Ukrainian. Rory also studied at the State Theatrical Arts Academy of St Petersburg and spent most of 2008 living and working in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.
Rory is a translator of Russian drama, and has translated plays for the ADC Theatre, Cambridge, the Royal Court Theatre and the Free Theatre of Belarus.
His plays include: Single Sex (Royal Exchange), Remembrance Day (Royal Court), Tourism (Headlong), Come To Where I’m From (Paines Plough).
In 2010, Rory was Writer-on-Attachment at the Royal Court Theatre, London and went on to join the theatre’s Super Group. Rory is currently the 2011 Pearson Writer in Residence at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and is under commission to Headlong Theatre Co.
