{THEATRE} Belarus Free Theatre
Tales from the
underground Banned in their home country the acclaimed Belarus Free Theatre are teaming up with UK producers Fuel to make their Edinburgh debut. Mark Brown looks at the company’s history and reputation
F rom the revolutions on the streets of Syria and Bahrain to the British riots which have disrupted the holidays of Coalition ministers, we live, once again, in a world of political turmoil and
struggle. So much for Francis Fukuyama and his ‘end of history’.
Few people know more about the struggle for democracy and human rights than Belarus Free Theatre. The company, whose underground theatre gives expression to the claustrophobia of living under the 17-year dictatorship of Alexander Lukashenko, has been widely praised throughout the world. The late Harold Pinter was a notable supporter, as is Tom Stoppard. Although their work has been performed from Sydney to London, they have never played in Edinburgh, until now. Thanks to a collaboration with respected London theatre production company Fuel, BFT will make their Edinburgh Fringe debut this month with two shows, a new ‘work-in-development’, which goes under the working title of Minsk 2011, and an established piece entitled Discover Love.
The latter show, explains Kate McGrath, co-director of Fuel, comes, like so much of BFT’s work, from real life events; in this case, the ‘disappearance’ of one of their friends by the regime. It is, says McGrath, ‘a beautifully told, simple but powerful story about a woman falling in love, living her life with her partner, and then being separated from him
when he “disappears”, because he was a political dissident. It’s very simply but ingeniously staged, beautifully performed, and told with warmth, passion and commitment.’ M i n s k 2 0 1 1, as its working title suggests, is an attempt to capture something of Belarusian society now. It does so, explains Natalia Koliada, producer and founder member of BFT, by exploring the lack of sexual freedom within the country.
‘IT’S VERY SIMPLY BUT INGENIOUSLY STAGED’
L A V I T S E F
‘We ask why in societies like ours is there growing sexual aggression? Why are prostitutes the best-selling profession? Why are participants in gay parades in Minsk taken into the forest by the special division of the police and given death threats? Why does the whole nation feel that it cannot identify its sexuality?
‘The production is an attempt to investigate the political and social challenges of Belarus through its sexuality or asexuality based on the personal stories of our actors, their co-citizens and the country in general,’ Koliada continues. ‘“Belarus is not sexy”, said one of my close friends to European politicians, trying to explain to them their lack of interest in Belarus.’
If the politicians of Europe are often uninterested in Belarus and its many problems, Fuel consider themselves enablers in BFT’s mission to find a theatrical language for the struggle of the Belarusian resistance. ‘Our job at Fuel is to support inspiring artists to create fresh work for adventurous audiences,’ McGrath comments. ‘They are very inspiring artists, in their work and in their lives, so we thought we should try to help them create something new, and find a way to share it with audiences in Edinburgh who aren’t aware of the company.’ Although BFT has received international acclaim, there are those who, while full of admiration for the company’s extraordinary courage, are not entirely convinced about their aesthetic achievements. I must declare – having seen BFT perform at the Europe Theatre Prize festival in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2008 – I am among the doubters.
Koliada has a clear response to those who suspect that BFT’s acclaim is founded more on political sympathy than aesthetic judgment. ‘Would you go to see a performance only because you knew that the artists who are performing on stage have been in jail or are living under political harassment in their country? I would not go if this was the only reason.’ She compares the connection between aesthetic quality and the raising of political consciousness in BFT’s work to that of dissident Chinese visual artist Ai Weiwei. ‘I saw works by Ai Weiwei and they impressed me so much that I started to do research on him. Since that time I have followed not only his artistic life but his life in general and all of the forms of harassment that he goes through in China.’
For BFT, the opportunity to present their work on the Edinburgh Fringe is the realisation of ‘one of two dreams’. The other dream, she says, ‘is to participate in the Edinburgh International Festival.’
Belarus Free Theatre, Pleasance
Courtyard, 556 6550, 22–29 Aug, 1pm, £10 (£8).
66 THE LIST 18–25 Aug 2011