CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, March 08, 2022

‘I was not ready to be killed’: Belarus Free Theatre prepare to perform in the UK

The Independent: In August 2020, a leading figure of Belarus Free Theatre, the renowned company based in Minsk, found herself in a choke hold. “A policewoman put me on my knees and choked me with [the crook of] her elbow,” says Svetlana Sugako. “I said, ‘Now you will kill me and you will live with that for the rest of your life.’ She was very angry because I had to sign a protocol [with falsified details] of my arrest and I said, ‘I will not sign it because it’s not true.’”

1 comment:

EC said...

I am in awe of Belarus Free Theatre: I’m terrified what will happen and I don’t have family near the war. I sincerely hope the entire company and their families are safe and that the war will end soon so they can return home. It is important for people outside of the conflict to hear what some Belarusians, Ukrainians and others who are denouncing the war have to say, without the filter of Western news. Western affiliated groups filtering the voices of refugees was one of the central points in my Interpretation and Argument class last semester and I had no idea how relevant it is to theater.
To me, this is what theater is all about: making a stand for what people believe in without the pressure to appeal to all their viewers, like Disney is currently doing with its neutral stance toward the LGBTQ+ community.