Belarus Free Theatre's November Newsletter
Belarus Free Theatre have just returned from Rome and Modena where Red Forestwas performed at the VIE and Le Vie Dei Festivals.
We are looking forward to the premiere of our next production, Time of Women, in Belarus.
We are excited to announce that we are recruiting a
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER to join our team!
Belarus Free Theatre are looking for an experienced Communications Manager to run all press and marketing campaigns within the company, as well as develop marketing strategy and manage online content for the company and control how the company is represented through all possible channels. As Belarus Free Theatre enter their 10th anniversary year the role of Communications Manager has become crucial. Projects the Communications Manager would work on in 2015 include : a UK tour, a 10th anniversary festival and a concert in solidarity with Belarus.
This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of "one of the most powerful underground companies on the planet" (NY Times, 2013). Working from the Young Vic offices, where Belarus Free Theatre is an associate company, you will be part of a small team creating vital political theatre.
If you are interested in applying, or you know anyone who is, please visit our website to download the full job description and application form HERE! Deadline: 24th November
The Red Forest Campaign stunt is simple. It involves unfurling a 300m red banner – a symbolic red line against dirty and unsafe forms of energy production. As with all BFT campaigns there is direct link to Belarus at its heart though the issues are universal, in this case we support the work of a small but tireless group of Belarusian campaigners protesting against the building of an unsafe nuclear power station on the borders of the European Union.
Securing the Millenium Bridge for our first stunt in London has set the bar high, so Via Alessandrina in Rome, chosen by the organisers of the Festival dei Vei where BFT performed Red Forest this week, was perfect, running past some of the most beautiful ancient, iconic sites in Rome. There were over 100 people involved in the stunt, and the Minister of Culture from the city council and Rai TV crew came to make a short news feature to be broadcast next week.
At 300 m long – the red line banner is far too long for the cast of Red Forest to carry alone. We invite our audience to join us and crucially we also connect with local campaigning organisations with shared concerns, to give it local significance and to encourage their members to participate in the stunt. So in London and Edinburgh, where we did the stunt during the festival, we worked with anti-fracking campaigners and in Rome we linked up with ASUD’s campaign against Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
There is probably no other current issue that threatens environmental rights and safeguards more than TTIP. ASUD was delighted to have this additional platform and brought a crowd of their supporters and volunteers to perform the stunt with the BFT actors. Tatyana Novikova, Belarus Anti-nuclear Campaign articulates the threat TTIP represents to international standards:
"TTIP is a signal for the rest of the world and for the European countries, in particular on the Post-Soviet space, that democracy and environmental standards could be revised and subordinated to the interests of business. This is very dangerous trend, the experience of Fukushima and Chernobyl confirmed that".
The campaign and the show are called Red Forest because, after the disaster at Chernobyl in 1986, the forest turned red. 70% of Belarus was contaminated. Please sign our petition and prevent another Chernobyl today.
Price of Money
Price of Money premiered in September 2014 at the Albany Theatre and received a fantastic reception from audience and critics alike. This new production explored the central role of money in our lives, from ancient Greece references to the fractured economy of today.
Hard-hitting, fast paced… a work that is not afraid to pin its political colours to the mast
– The Public Reviews
Theatre Bubble
Financial Times
Time of Women
Time of Women is Belarus Free Theatre 's latest production that will premiere at various underground locations in Belarus before Christmas. This brand new play presents the story of three women who are currently being held in a KGB jail after a crackdown on democratic forces in Belarus in 2010. It aims to capture the reality of the interrogation techniques that are used in KGB jails to this day.
Directed by Nicolai Khalezin
Devised and performed by Belarus Free Theatre
