Belarus Free Theatre
Belarus
Free Theatre were formed in Belarus – Europe’s last surviving
dictatorship – in response to the state’s culture of censorship and
ideological pressure. Because of their work with the company, its
members are barred from working within the state-run theatre, and
several have experienced maltreatment at the hands of the authorities
as a consequence of their political activities.
This
show, still in development with British theatre company Fuel, takes
the form of a series of episodes illustrating life in the Belarusian
capital, Minsk. They paint a bleak picture, but the scenes that use
humour to flag up the idiosyncrasies of living in a dictatorship are
by far the most compelling: a workers’ canteen turns into an LGBT
club by night, neither clientele aware of the building’s alternative
usage; a strip club gets approval from a government inspector; the
imaginative nicknames of the country’s most popular cheap booze are
reeled off.
The
company give some fine performances, but too often the subtlety of
their character portrayals are lost in the broad brush strokes of the
show’s choreographed, physical theatre moments. This makes for
affecting theatre, but ultimately left me longing for a more nuanced
production style. Having seen the company’s last show, however, the funny,
anarchic and powerful Eurepica. Challenge., I’m
confident that the current production’s flaws will be ironed out by
the ongoing development process. This show isn’t perfect, but it’s stirring stuff and, given the nature of the subject matter, an important one to see.
