Just posted This on the DS-HUM Listserv

I am posting this in regard to the recent discussion on writers, poets, and playwrights with cerebral palsy, and its representation.

Russia, freaks and foreigners: three performance texts

 By James MacDonald

Russia, Freaks & Foreigners is a collection of three thematically linked plays set against the backdrop of a fractured, post-Soviet Russian society. Written by acclaimed playwright James MacDonald, who is cerebral palsied, these performance texts critique accepted notions of normality within authority, offering various models of difference – physical, cultural and moral – and their stories of dislocation. Their themes, contextualized here by companion essays, expand the boundaries of British drama and connect to the comic grotesque tradition by giving the 'abnormal' a broad appeal. To date, MacDonald is one of the few severely disabled playwrights to have their work staged and he deals with issues rarely covered in drama. Consequently, Russia, Freaks & Foreigners is a daring portrayal of disability from the inside.

Google Books preview: http://bit.ly/gh5cPr