Belarus Free Theatre
Encyclopedia
Belarus Free Theatre is a Belarus
ian underground theatre group.
Under the current political system the Belarus Free Theatre has no official registration, no premises, nor any other facilities. Rehearsals and performances (always free of charge for the public) are normally held secretly in small private apartments, which, due to security and the risk of persecution, must constantly be changed.
On several occasions, performances were given in street cafes and in the countryside, in the woods. Staffs members have been repeatedly harassed by the authorities for their participation in the Belarus Free Theatre activities and the stage director together with other people were sacked from their jobs at state-run theatres.
.
In May 2005 the team was joined by stage director Vladimir Scherban, who has produced the majority of Free Theatre performances. Currently the theatre’s staff consists of ten professional actors, one professional dramatist, four managers and two technical assistants.
The troupe's first production was 4.48 Psychosis
, by the late British playwright Sarah Kane
(1971–1999), which deals with "depression and suicide –– two themes that are taboo in state-controlled Belarusian art."
The premiere took place on May 28, 2005 in one of Minsk clubs.
According to the website of the European Theatre Convention
, "Since May 2005 the Free Theatre has produced seven performances based on thirteen plays. About 5,000 people attended performances of the Free Theatre in Belarus and more than 4,000 abroad during the first two years of existence. Free Theatre attracts other representatives of Belarusian underground culture in the variety of fields, such as independent music, art, photography, cinematography."
On 8 February 2006, Steven Lee Myers reported in The New York Times
that "The theater ... performs in private apartments and in places that are not openly advertised –– and, increasingly, abroad, where it is drawing international attention and support from prominent playwrights, including Tom Stoppard
and Václav Havel
."
The Free Theatre performed its original theatrical work Being Harold Pinter at the mid-April 2007 conference "Artist and Citizen: 50 Years of Performing Pinter, in Leeds
, England
, during which British playwright and 2005 Nobel Laureate
Harold Pinter
participated in the after-performance discussion. During the conference, there were scheduled screenings for conferees of the video of Square (Ploshcha), a documentary film about the situation in Belarus. Michael Billington
— Pinter's official biographer and theatre critic of The Guardian
— wrote a laudatory account of the performance of Being Harold Pinter and the Free Theatre in his Guardian Online
"Theatre Blog" on 16 April 2007, from the conference, observing that "A new production by the Belarus Free Theatre reinforces the global resonance of the British playwright's political works."
Afterward, the Free Theatre went on to the European Theatre Convention
(ETC) in Thessaloniki, Greece, site of the 11th Europe Theatre Prize conference (26–29 April 2007), and, the ETC invited the Free Theatre to join it, waiving membership fees: "In April 2007, Belarus Free Theatre became a full member of the European Theatre Convention," according to the ETC website, and in May 2007 "a member of [the] international network Trans European Halls."
Fewer than three weeks after meeting with former Czech
President Václav Havel
on 4 August 2007, at his country cottage in the Czech Republic
on 22 August 2007, during the Free Theatre's première of Edward Bond
's theatrical piece Eleven Vests, "special forces from the Belarusian police stormed the performance by the Belarus 'Free Theatre' in a private apartment in Minsk," and "Actors, directors, and audience members," including its director Khalezin, "were arrested"; though subsequently released, "the theatre's founder Nikolai Khalezin is still pretty shaken up," having stated: "'Police used to burst into our performances with machine guns but they disappeared just as fast. A mass arrest
like this is a first.'" According to Petz, "Khalezin thinks that this is a concerted effort on the part of the police, the special forces OMON
and the secret service KGB 'to exert pressure'." Though Khalezin himself "is used to" such harassment in the past, he stated (as qtd. by Petz), "'But now it's affecting those who have never been arrested before. I'm afraid that some of them won't come back.'"
Regardless of all the intentions of special forces to stop the premiere, the performance took place the next day in one of the private houses outside of Minsk. Police were taking video of the event from the forest.
On December 19, 2010, fifty thousand people went into the streets to protest what they believed to be the rigged election of Alexander Lukashenko
. More than a thousand of those were beaten and arrested, including Artistic Director Natalia Koliada, other members of the theatre, and prominent artists and poets. At the Belarus Embassy in London, dozens of leaders from the artistic community, including Ian McKellen
, protested the arrests, bringing international attention. Natalia Koliada was released, while Nikolai Khalezin went into hiding, where he remains.
According to its website, "the main aim" of the performances of the Free Theatre is to "break through stereotypes of the Belarusian population that are imposed by the ideological system of Belarusian dictatorial regime."
"Belarus Free Theatre will exist as long as it is creatively alive", says Nikolai Khalezin.
Members of the Belarus Free Theatre and other Belarusian dissidents cite Václav Havel
and the 1989 Velvet Revolution
in the former Czechoslovakia
, Polish theatre, and other Eastern European protest movements of the 1960s and '70s as inspirations and models for their artistic resistance as part of the status quo in Belarus.
Speaking about the Free Theatre's first production, Sarah Kane
's 4.48 Psychosis
, its founder Nikolai Khalezin observes that Kane's play "'is about a woman's psychological decay, homosexuality
and suicide
," and that, while "There's no politics in the play," in it "there is something that is threatening to a dictatorship –– open conversation
. The dictatorship says: "We have no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug abuse." And we say: we have to talk if we want to solve problems.'"
Claire Bigg asks: "If the Free Theater has no political agenda, then what makes it so subversive in the eyes of the authorities?" In response, founder "Khalezin says [that] Lukashenka's authoritarian regime, which he describes as 'collective farm-like,' has failed, unlike the Soviets and the Nazis, to establish an aesthetic platform to promote its doctrines. ... The Belarusian leadership, he says, therefore feels threatened by any form of individual artistic expression that illustrates present-day dilemmas. ... Despite the pressure and obstacles, the Free Theater manages to deliver cutting-edge, effervescent performances –– and Khalezin says the troupe is determined to fight for its right to do so until Lukashenka’s regime comes to an end.
Although also observing that "The project is often referred to as 'political theatre
'," Petz stresses that Khalezin himself "definitely does not consider his art political. He says that would be too boring and adds, 'We don't have a single classically political play in our repertoire.' For him, "uprightness" is more important than the classic political play."
Andrei Kolyada, a renown belarusian professor and specialist in scenic speech, was fired from Belarusian Academy of Arts for his collaboration with the Belarus Free Theatre.
” that teaches administration using methods developed by Church of Scientology
founder, L. Ron Hubbard
. Nikolai Khalezin does not have any higher nor any special education in the field of stage direction, dramaturgy or acting technique. International professionals in theatre marketing, management and dramaturgy come to Minsk with workshops.
Apart from that Belarus Free Theatre holds educational workshops on contemporary theatre abroad.
, Harold Pinter
, Václav Havel
, and Arthur Kopit have supported the Free Theatre, with "Pinter himself ... so enthusiastic about the collage [Being Harold Pinter] that [the Free Theatre] ... assembled from his Nobel Prize for Literature
speech, plays and letters from political prisoners in Belarus, that he gave the 'Free Theater' [sic] the rights to his plays for free." Stoppard, who "gave a course in Minsk
" two years earlier, stated: "'I wish that all my plays would be performed by a theatre like this,'" becoming "one of the theatre's patrons," along with former Czech President Havel, whom a couple of them visited on 4 August 2007, prior to being "under attack" by the authorities again. On 30 July 2007, before going to the Czech Republic
to meet with former President Havel, "The group ... met Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger
in Warsaw
," another sponsor. In 2009 Belarus Free Theatre met with Steven Spielberg
in DreamWorks Headquarters in LA, USA. Not only do "such famous sponsors bring glamour" to the Free Theatre, according to Petz, but they also afford "protection against even more drastic repressive measures" from the Belarusian authorities. The theatre has also received moral support from free expression charity Index on Censorship
, who have lobbied British MPs on the situation in Belarus.
On 10 February 2008, there was a benefit performance of Being Harold Pinter as part of a Gala Evening at Soho Theatre
, in London
, staged in Russian with English surtitles, along with Generation Jeans, which Harold Pinter
attended; the committee for this Gala Evening was chaired by Sir Tom Stoppard
, and the event was "To raise vital funds for the UK presentation of The Belarus Free Theatre and associated contextual events including workshops and platform discussions on censorship and freedom of speech." The production, which was performed from 11 to 23 February 2008, received appreciative press reviews, including 5 stars from Pinter's official authorised biographer Michael Billington
, in his Guardian
review, and 4 stars from the Times
reviewer Sam Marlowe, who observed that "Drama doesn't come more urgently political than in the work of the Belarus Free Theatre."
Being Harold Pinter premiered in New South Wales
, Australia
, at the Belvoir St Theatre
, in Surry Hills
, on 6 January 2009, playing there from 6 through 11 and 28 through 31 January and 1 February and at Q Theatre, Penrith
, from 14 through 17 January 2009. The production, a part of the Sydney Festival 2009
(10–31 January), took on "a particular poignancy" after Pinter's death occurred on 24 December 2008.
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian underground theatre group.
Under the current political system the Belarus Free Theatre has no official registration, no premises, nor any other facilities. Rehearsals and performances (always free of charge for the public) are normally held secretly in small private apartments, which, due to security and the risk of persecution, must constantly be changed.
On several occasions, performances were given in street cafes and in the countryside, in the woods. Staffs members have been repeatedly harassed by the authorities for their participation in the Belarus Free Theatre activities and the stage director together with other people were sacked from their jobs at state-run theatres.
History
The group was established in March 2005 by human rights activists Nikolai Khalezin, playwright and journalist, and Natalia Koliada, a theatre producer and Khalezin's wife. The theatre was meant to be an artistic form of resisting the pressure and censorship of the authoritarian regime of president Alexander Lukashenka in BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
In May 2005 the team was joined by stage director Vladimir Scherban, who has produced the majority of Free Theatre performances. Currently the theatre’s staff consists of ten professional actors, one professional dramatist, four managers and two technical assistants.
The troupe's first production was 4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis is a play by British playwright Sarah Kane. It was her last work, first staged at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on June 23, 2000, nearly one and a half years after Kane's February 20, 1999 death...
, by the late British playwright Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
(1971–1999), which deals with "depression and suicide –– two themes that are taboo in state-controlled Belarusian art."
The premiere took place on May 28, 2005 in one of Minsk clubs.
According to the website of the European Theatre Convention
European Theatre Convention
-Programs :According to its website, the programs of the European Theatre Convention include the following programs :-Current members:-Board and representative:...
, "Since May 2005 the Free Theatre has produced seven performances based on thirteen plays. About 5,000 people attended performances of the Free Theatre in Belarus and more than 4,000 abroad during the first two years of existence. Free Theatre attracts other representatives of Belarusian underground culture in the variety of fields, such as independent music, art, photography, cinematography."
On 8 February 2006, Steven Lee Myers reported in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that "The theater ... performs in private apartments and in places that are not openly advertised –– and, increasingly, abroad, where it is drawing international attention and support from prominent playwrights, including Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
and Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
."
The Free Theatre performed its original theatrical work Being Harold Pinter at the mid-April 2007 conference "Artist and Citizen: 50 Years of Performing Pinter, in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, during which British playwright and 2005 Nobel Laureate
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
participated in the after-performance discussion. During the conference, there were scheduled screenings for conferees of the video of Square (Ploshcha), a documentary film about the situation in Belarus. Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
— Pinter's official biographer and theatre critic of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
— wrote a laudatory account of the performance of Being Harold Pinter and the Free Theatre in his Guardian Online
Guardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
"Theatre Blog" on 16 April 2007, from the conference, observing that "A new production by the Belarus Free Theatre reinforces the global resonance of the British playwright's political works."
Afterward, the Free Theatre went on to the European Theatre Convention
European Theatre Convention
-Programs :According to its website, the programs of the European Theatre Convention include the following programs :-Current members:-Board and representative:...
(ETC) in Thessaloniki, Greece, site of the 11th Europe Theatre Prize conference (26–29 April 2007), and, the ETC invited the Free Theatre to join it, waiving membership fees: "In April 2007, Belarus Free Theatre became a full member of the European Theatre Convention," according to the ETC website, and in May 2007 "a member of [the] international network Trans European Halls."
Fewer than three weeks after meeting with former Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
President Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
on 4 August 2007, at his country cottage in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
on 22 August 2007, during the Free Theatre's première of Edward Bond
Edward Bond
Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
's theatrical piece Eleven Vests, "special forces from the Belarusian police stormed the performance by the Belarus 'Free Theatre' in a private apartment in Minsk," and "Actors, directors, and audience members," including its director Khalezin, "were arrested"; though subsequently released, "the theatre's founder Nikolai Khalezin is still pretty shaken up," having stated: "'Police used to burst into our performances with machine guns but they disappeared just as fast. A mass arrest
Mass arrest
A mass arrest occurs when the police apprehend large numbers of suspects at once. This sometimes occurs at illegal protests. Some mass arrests are also used in an effort combat gang activity. This is sometimes controversial, and lawsuits sometimes result...
like this is a first.'" According to Petz, "Khalezin thinks that this is a concerted effort on the part of the police, the special forces OMON
OMON
OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...
and the secret service KGB 'to exert pressure'." Though Khalezin himself "is used to" such harassment in the past, he stated (as qtd. by Petz), "'But now it's affecting those who have never been arrested before. I'm afraid that some of them won't come back.'"
Regardless of all the intentions of special forces to stop the premiere, the performance took place the next day in one of the private houses outside of Minsk. Police were taking video of the event from the forest.
On December 19, 2010, fifty thousand people went into the streets to protest what they believed to be the rigged election of Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
. More than a thousand of those were beaten and arrested, including Artistic Director Natalia Koliada, other members of the theatre, and prominent artists and poets. At the Belarus Embassy in London, dozens of leaders from the artistic community, including Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, protested the arrests, bringing international attention. Natalia Koliada was released, while Nikolai Khalezin went into hiding, where he remains.
Aims of the Free Theatre
Khalezin, who is also a dramatist himself, having become "famous with his piece 'Ja prishel' (Here I am) which gleaned many international awards," observes that "'All theatres in Belarus are state-owned ... The directors and creative directors are appointed by the Ministry of Culture. The performances are censored, the programs are old and musty. We want to offer an alternative, a modern theatre that discusses social problems with a degree of creative freedom.'"According to its website, "the main aim" of the performances of the Free Theatre is to "break through stereotypes of the Belarusian population that are imposed by the ideological system of Belarusian dictatorial regime."
"Belarus Free Theatre will exist as long as it is creatively alive", says Nikolai Khalezin.
Members of the Belarus Free Theatre and other Belarusian dissidents cite Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
and the 1989 Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
in the former Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Polish theatre, and other Eastern European protest movements of the 1960s and '70s as inspirations and models for their artistic resistance as part of the status quo in Belarus.
Activities of the Free Theatre
- "implementation of educational master-classes by the leading theatrical figures of Europe
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, USAUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
for the young Belarusian dramaturges and scenarists";- "organizing the International Contest of modern dramaturgy
DramaturgyDramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Dramaturgy is a distinct practice separate from play writing and directing, although a single individual may perform any combination of the three. Some dramatists combine writing and...
'Free Theatre' and publishing the almanac of laureate plays";- "underground performances of the Belarusian prohibited playwrights and best European and American plays
Theater in the United StatesTheater of the United States is based in the Western tradition. Regional or resident theatres in the United States are professional theatre companies outside of New York City that produce their own seasons.- Early history:...
that reflect modern life in all its aspects";- "public readings of plays of the Belarusian dramatists in Belarus
BelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, Russia, UkraineUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and the Baltic statesBaltic statesThe term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, as well as at the leading European theatrical festivals";- "publishing of collection of the Contemporary Belarusian Dramaturgy";
- "translating the plays of the young Belarusian dramatists into the foreign languages"; and
- "participation in theatre festivals in Europe and the USA." (Official website)
Speaking about the Free Theatre's first production, Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane
Sarah Kane was an English playwright. Her plays deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture — both physical and psychological — and death. They are characterised by a poetic intensity, pared-down language, exploration of theatrical form and, in her earlier work, the use of...
's 4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis
4.48 Psychosis is a play by British playwright Sarah Kane. It was her last work, first staged at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on June 23, 2000, nearly one and a half years after Kane's February 20, 1999 death...
, its founder Nikolai Khalezin observes that Kane's play "'is about a woman's psychological decay, homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
," and that, while "There's no politics in the play," in it "there is something that is threatening to a dictatorship –– open conversation
Conversation opener
A conversation opener is an introduction used to begin a conversation. They are frequently the subject of guides and seminars on how to make friends and/or meet people. Different situations may call for different openers A conversation opener is an introduction used to begin a conversation. They...
. The dictatorship says: "We have no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug abuse." And we say: we have to talk if we want to solve problems.'"
Claire Bigg asks: "If the Free Theater has no political agenda, then what makes it so subversive in the eyes of the authorities?" In response, founder "Khalezin says [that] Lukashenka's authoritarian regime, which he describes as 'collective farm-like,' has failed, unlike the Soviets and the Nazis, to establish an aesthetic platform to promote its doctrines. ... The Belarusian leadership, he says, therefore feels threatened by any form of individual artistic expression that illustrates present-day dilemmas. ... Despite the pressure and obstacles, the Free Theater manages to deliver cutting-edge, effervescent performances –– and Khalezin says the troupe is determined to fight for its right to do so until Lukashenka’s regime comes to an end.
Although also observing that "The project is often referred to as 'political theatre
Political theatre
In the history of theatre, there is long tradition of performances addressing issues of current events and central to society itself, encouraging consciousness and social change. The political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres, had considerable influence on public opinion in the...
'," Petz stresses that Khalezin himself "definitely does not consider his art political. He says that would be too boring and adds, 'We don't have a single classically political play in our repertoire.' For him, "uprightness" is more important than the classic political play."
Consequences
Such "uprightness", Petz cautions, "comes at a price in Belarus", as "Almost all the members of the ensemble have served time behind bars." Director Vladimir Scherban was "fired by his state employer for being involved with the 'Free Theatre,' as were other actors."Andrei Kolyada, a renown belarusian professor and specialist in scenic speech, was fired from Belarusian Academy of Arts for his collaboration with the Belarus Free Theatre.
Educational project
In late 2008 thanks to the financial support of the British Embassy in Belarus the Belarus Free Theatre launched an educational project named “Studio Fortinbras”, destined to young Belarusians without theatre experience. In the framework of this project Natalia Koliada and Nikolai Khalezin are themselves lecturers in marketing, management and dramaturgy. The declared aim of the studio is the “forming of universal creator: a person who will know how to do everything – write, stage, perform – and will be able to propose the realization of his artistic product in any country of the world”. It is specified that “the Belarusian “Free theatre” is only interested in education of personnel who will work exclusively inside its own collective”. In December 2009 the managers of the theatre announced a new recruitment in the studio, having declared, that out of 30 students admitted from the beginning of the project “Fortinbras” almost all of them were “eliminated”. According to the information, which has not been reflected in secondary sources, the majority of students of the “Fortinbras” project left the studio of free will because of the relationship student-teacher imposed by the directors of the «Free theatre». Natalia Koliada and Nikolai Khalezin do not have any professional education in disciplines and subjects which they are lecturing. Natalia Koliada has graduated from the Department of history of the Belarusian pedagogic university, she has also attended scientologist courses of management in Moscow and graduated from the unaccredited “American Hubbard College of AdministrationHubbard College of Administration International
Hubbard College of Administration International is an unaccredited school that teaches administration using methods developed by Church of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The headquarters for the school is located at 320 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90004. The school began...
” that teaches administration using methods developed by Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
founder, L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
. Nikolai Khalezin does not have any higher nor any special education in the field of stage direction, dramaturgy or acting technique. International professionals in theatre marketing, management and dramaturgy come to Minsk with workshops.
Apart from that Belarus Free Theatre holds educational workshops on contemporary theatre abroad.
International support
Famous playwrights like Tom StoppardTom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
, Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, and Arthur Kopit have supported the Free Theatre, with "Pinter himself ... so enthusiastic about the collage [Being Harold Pinter] that [the Free Theatre] ... assembled from his Nobel Prize for Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
speech, plays and letters from political prisoners in Belarus, that he gave the 'Free Theater' [sic] the rights to his plays for free." Stoppard, who "gave a course in Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
" two years earlier, stated: "'I wish that all my plays would be performed by a theatre like this,'" becoming "one of the theatre's patrons," along with former Czech President Havel, whom a couple of them visited on 4 August 2007, prior to being "under attack" by the authorities again. On 30 July 2007, before going to the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
to meet with former President Havel, "The group ... met Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
," another sponsor. In 2009 Belarus Free Theatre met with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
in DreamWorks Headquarters in LA, USA. Not only do "such famous sponsors bring glamour" to the Free Theatre, according to Petz, but they also afford "protection against even more drastic repressive measures" from the Belarusian authorities. The theatre has also received moral support from free expression charity Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship is a campaigning publishing organisation for freedom of expression, which produces an award-winning quarterly magazine of the same name from London. The present chief executive of Index on Censorship, since 2008, is the author, broadcaster and commentator John Kampfner, former...
, who have lobbied British MPs on the situation in Belarus.
Awards
- In July 2007, for the 12th Edition of the Europe Theatre Prize, "a special mention" was "awarded, proposed by Václav Havel, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard, to Belarus Free Theatre for their opposition against the oppression of Belarusian Government."
- The Belarus Free Theatre was short-listed for the 2008 inaugural Freedom to Create Prize, which is given for "finding light in darkness and courage in truth".
- The French Republic Award in Defence of Human Rights 2007
Subsequent international support and press reviews
- The Financial Times: Being Harold Pinter (4****)
- Daily Telegraph: Being Harold Pinter (5*****)
- The Observer: interview by Stephanie Merritt
- The Sunday Times: Being Harold Pinter (5*****)
- The Irish Times: Fiona McCann on Belarus Free Theatre
- The Times: Benedict Nightingale on Belarus Free Theatre
- The New-York Times: Wilborn Hampton on Belarus Free Theatre
- The Guardian: Mark Ravenhill on Belarus Free Theatre
- Time Out London: Being Harold Pinter/Generation Jeans (4****)
- Thomas Nordanstad: video "A day in the life of Belarus Free Theatre"
- The Guardian: Being Harold Pinter/Generation Jeans (5*****)
- The Guardian: Being Harold Pinter (5*****)
- The Guardian: Michael Billington on Belarus Free Theatre
- The Sunday Times: Being Harold Pinter/Generation Jeans at Soho Theatre (4****)
- WORLD MUSICIANS FOR SOLIDARITY WITH BELARUS: European musicians supported Belarus. Solidarity party in Minsk
- Radio FREEDOM/FREE EUROPE: interview with Nikolai Khalezin
- Appeal in the support of Belarus Free Theatre signed up by more than 100 world-known theatre figures
On 10 February 2008, there was a benefit performance of Being Harold Pinter as part of a Gala Evening at Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, staged in Russian with English surtitles, along with Generation Jeans, which Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
attended; the committee for this Gala Evening was chaired by Sir Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
, and the event was "To raise vital funds for the UK presentation of The Belarus Free Theatre and associated contextual events including workshops and platform discussions on censorship and freedom of speech." The production, which was performed from 11 to 23 February 2008, received appreciative press reviews, including 5 stars from Pinter's official authorised biographer Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
, in his Guardian
Guardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
review, and 4 stars from the Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reviewer Sam Marlowe, who observed that "Drama doesn't come more urgently political than in the work of the Belarus Free Theatre."
Being Harold Pinter premiered in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, at the Belvoir St Theatre
Belvoir St Theatre
Belvoir St Theatre is an Australian theatre venue in Sydney. The venue in Belvoir Street, Surry Hills previously operated as the Nimrod Theatre, and was founded as "Belvoir St" in 1984 by Sue Hill and Chris Westwood...
, in Surry Hills
Surry Hills, New South Wales
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is located immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
, on 6 January 2009, playing there from 6 through 11 and 28 through 31 January and 1 February and at Q Theatre, Penrith
Penrith, New South Wales
Penrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Penrith is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith...
, from 14 through 17 January 2009. The production, a part of the Sydney Festival 2009
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
(10–31 January), took on "a particular poignancy" after Pinter's death occurred on 24 December 2008.
International Festivals and Tours
- Theatre-Studio Alfortville, Paris
- Under The Radar, New York
- Swedish Royal Theatre, Stockholm
- Passages Festival, Nancy
- Christian Benedetti's Theatre-Studio, Paris
- Soho Theatre, London
- Meyerhold Centre, Moscow
- Internationale Keuze festival at the Centre for the Performing Arts in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- Hong Kong Art Festival
See also
- Belarusian democracy movementBelarusian democracy movement-Background:Alexander Lukashenko has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994. United Nations Human Rights Council noted that Belarusian political system is “incompatible with the concept of human rights”.- Charter 97 :...
- Censorship in BelarusCensorship in BelarusCensorship in Belarus, although prohibited by the country's constitution, is enforced by a number of laws. These include a law that makes insulting the president punishable by up to five years in prison, and another that makes criticizing Belarus abroad punishable by up to two years in prison.-...
- Jeans RevolutionJeans RevolutionThe Jeans Revolution was a term used by the democratic opposition in Belarus and their supporters in the West to describe their effort and aspirations as regarding democratic changes in Belarus at the presidential elections of 2006...
- Polish theatre
- Velvet RevolutionVelvet RevolutionThe Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
- Burma Free Theatre Network
Further reading
- "An Arresting Performance – Literally". Sydney Morning HeraldThe Sydney Morning HeraldThe Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
. Fairfax MediaFairfax MediaFairfax Media Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The group's operations include newspapers, magazines, radios and digital media operating in Australia and New Zealand. Fairfax Media was founded by the Fairfax family as John Fairfax and Sons, later to become John...
, 15 Dec. 2008. WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. 29 Jan. 2009.
- "Free Theatre's Performance Was Watched by Militia". "News from Belarus". Charter '97Charter 97Charter 97 is a declaration calling for democracy in Belarus and a human rights group taking its inspiration from the declaration.The document - whose title deliberately echoes the Czechoslovak human rights declaration Charter 77 twenty years earlier - was created on the anniversary of a referendum...
Press Center, 8 Nov. 2007. WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. 29 Jan. 2009. (About "The Free Theatre's performance Being Harold Pinter ... shown in MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
7 November.")
External links
- Belarus Free Theatre – Official website. [For press releases, see "Press".]
- "Free Theatre of Minsk: Onstage Resistance" – Office for a Democratic Belarus, BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, 2007 - "To Be Free or Not To Be" – Office for a Democratic Belarus, BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, 2007 ["Prepared by Ales Kudrytski for the Office for a Democratic Belarus; Photos by dramaturg.org" (Belarus Free Theatre).] - Free Theatre Manifesto