Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker

Synopsis

Welcome to Minsk - the sexiest city in the world! In Belarus people bear the scars of repression all over their body. Gay pride marches are brutally suppressed. Underground nightclubs are routinely raised by special forces. If scars are sexy then Minsk must be the sexiest city in the world. A lament for a city that has lost its way, for a beloved home that has turned ugly, for a people who cannot express themselves.

Our Review:

Amy Stow - 20 June 2012

Minsk, 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker takes American writer Kathy Acker’s original concept of sexuality in New York and explores the idea and practise of sex within a dictatorship. Belarus, the last European country to experience an oppressive regime under Lukashenko, is still reeling from such totalitarian control. Double standards are rife, especially in the capital city Minsk, where lap dancers walk a fine line between being dubbed ‘erotic’ (an acceptable practice) and ‘pornographic’ (an illegal practice), and prostitutes are employed to clear the streets of snow. On the flip side, gay pride marches are banned, with defiant marchers locked up to await their (very bloody) fate.

So far, so graphic. Many of the incidents described above are enacted with painstaking accuracy, which at times makes for uncomfortable viewing. Yet the play, and each of its characters, still denotes a fond attachment to the country, its trad...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review