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Russia: Belarus Free Theatre calls for the release of jailed Ukranian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov
October 15, 8:04
The Belarus Free Theatre, which campaigns for free expression in Belarus, is calling on the British government to pressurise the Russian authorities to release prisoners whose only crime is to have opposed the annexation of Crimea, an act that the British Government has declared illegal.
Burning Doors
verity healey
September 12, 17:39
Belarus Free Theatre's newest performance Burning Doors tells the stories of three dissident artists, and stars Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina. Verity Healey joined them in the rehearsal room to explore their incendiary creative process.
Belarus Free Theatre meets Pussy Riot: 'If you don't run in front of the train, then you're nowhere'
September 08, 9:13
Pussy Riot's Masha Alyokhina is working with Belarus Free Theatre to make UK audiences stand up for political prisoners – Jessie Thompson meets them to find out more.
Place Hacking, Belarus Free Theatre, and Coming Home
February 15, 10:47
Seeing a play by Belarus Free Theatre in their home country can get you locked up or flung out of university. It’s forced the company to form close protective relationships with their home audiences, many of whom are themselves committed to the struggle to oust dictator Alexander Lukashenko. It’s also encouraged BFT to think particularly about their audiences outside Belarus and how they communicate with them during and post shows. But what’s particularly apparent to anyone who regularly attends BFT’s plays, is the strong invisible presence of the audiences and creative teams who support the company in secret in Belarus, who while not being with global audiences in body, are certainly there in spirit. This bond between audience, actor, and company, those who are present and not present, was imaginatively highlighted by BFT’s Staging a Revolution festival held in London, a two-week celebration of the company’s tenth anniversary.
'King Lear,' via Belarus, rages and storms at Chicago Shakespeare
February 08, 17:57
If a King Lear could still be said to exist anywhere in the world, then Alexander Lukashenko, the president of the Republic of Belarus, is about as close a candidate as you could find. In office for more than two decades, the monarchical dictator of the outlying Eastern European nation holds all the effective reins of governmental power, including near-total control of spending, the ability to dissolve an uncooperative parliament and a stranglehold on the judiciary.
King Lear (Shakespeare 400 Chicago)
February 08, 13:51
Belarusian Dissidents as Nasty as They Wanna Be.
Pop Up Performance in a Dictatorship? No Problem!
January 15, 17:10
Belarus Free Theatre’s theatrical laboratory Fortinbras’ provocations of pop up contemporary art and theatre shone a bright light through the chinks of the armor of Belarus’ dictatorship this past December in a cold and rainy Minsk.
Trash Cuisine: Rare meat, naked actors, Vladislav Kovalev's child photos
December 28, 16:38
Rare meat, naked actors, Vladislav Kovalev's child photos – Belarus Free Theatre shows Belarusian version of Trash Cuisine in Minsk.
Natalia Kaliada: “Any system, anywhere, is afraid of people who think”
verity healey
November 27, 11:45
Verity Healey talks to Natalia Kaliada about Staging A Revolution.
Trash Cuisine- Belarus Free Theatre- Staging a Revolution- New River Studios
verity healey
November 26, 15:29
The body. Or, rather, our bodies.
Freedom From Torture With Belarus Free Theatre At The Young Vic
November 24, 18:09
Earlier this month Belarus Free Theatre invited Freedom from Torture to lead the post-performance audience discussion of their play Being Harold Pinter at the Young Vic Theatre. Noreen McKeever went along to watch them in action:
Belarus Free Theatre’s networks of dissent
November 22, 18:01
The repeated violations of subordinate aerial spaces by U.S. drones constitute one of today’s most striking examples. Just as sovereignty is no longer flatly territorial but instead volumetric and three-dimensional, so too are the ways to challenge or deny it.
– Grégoire Chamayou, Drone Theory
“Tonight we are live-streaming. We hope that people online could see us in Belarus, in Ukraine, in Russia and many other countries where we don’t have artistic freedoms.”
– Natalia Kaliada, Belarus Free Theatre
King Lear- Belarus Free Theatre- Staging a Revolution- Young Vic
verity healey
November 16, 0:10
Time and again Belarus Free Theatre confound audience’s theatrical notions and preconceptions and they do so here, once more, with spectacular aplomb. Defiantly performed in Belarusian, a language outlawed by the dictatorship in their own country, BFT’s slightly truncated version of King Lear rollicks along at a furious pace and, for those of us used to reverent, more conventional productions, this stylish extravaganza is a breath of revelatory, revolutionary air and a bit of a shocker.
Discover Love
verity healey
November 11, 19:22
On September 16th 1999, Irina Krasovskaya’s successful businessman husband Anatoly Krasovsky, who was a fierce critic of Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorial regime in Belarus, left their family home to visit a sauna with his friend and prominent opposition politician Viktar Hanchar, and along with him, never returned.
The Washington Post: Belarus Free Theatre, in a breathless display of its wares
November 11, 16:27
LONDON — “Why is everyone in the KGB so stupid?” Irina, one of the jailed journalists asks, in Belarus Free Theatre’s intense and highly watchable “Time of Women.”
The Stage: Belarus Free Theatre’s decade of performing for free speech
November 11, 16:04
Belarus Free Theatre is celebrating 10 years’ work with Staging a Revolution, a London showcase of the brand of underground theatre that has cut such a swathe through Europe and North America over the past decade. The fanfare and glitz aside, the festival is also a timely opportunity to witness the hard work BFT has put in to earn its accolades, its artistic vision fired, rather than dampened, by spending the past five years in enforced exile.
The Huffington Post: 10 Years of Theatre and Oppression
November 11, 15:55
Art matters. And it's hard to think of a theatre company that has proved that more than Belarus Free Theatre (BFT). Now about to celebrate their tenth anniversary, BFT has persisted against the most extraordinary odds to not just confront oppression, but to create challenging and vital theatre.
British Theatre Guide: It is a play Lukashenko should come and see
November 11, 13:42
The Belarus Free Theatre's Russian language play Time of Women opens with the dramatic audio recording of the journalist Iryna Khalip’s distressed 'phone interview with a Moscow radio station as she is dragged from her car and assaulted by the police in Belarus. This happened in December 2010, when people in Belarus were protesting the corrupt presidential election of Lukashenko.
The Guardian: Belarus Free Theatre bring Minsk-style performance to London
November 11, 12:52
Drawing on personal experience, the award-winning troupe delivers an impressive evocation of the psychological impact of life under a dictatorship.
A Younger Theatre: Zone of Silence is innovative, unswerving and unapologetic
November 11, 12:42
What do we know about Belarus? I personally did not know enough, apart from its geographical position, some scattered pieces of information from the media and a couple of Eurovision songs. Celebrating their tenth anniversary, Belarus Free Theatre’s mission is to educate their audience. Their piece Zone of Silence is a part-verbatim, part-physical theatre performance that aims to paint a cohesive picture of Belarus, its people and its problematic past.