special event dedicated to the memory of Vincenzo Cerami
company winner of Total Impact Award at Edinburgh Festival in 2013, assigned by the Italian Cultural Institute
written by Nicolai Khalezin
with the participation of Natalia Kaliada
directed by Nicolai Khalezin
choreography by Olga Skvortsova
intro by MC Coppa
performed by Maryna Yurevich, Aleh Sidorchyk/Denis Tarasenko, Pavel Radak-Haradnitski
musical fusion DJ Laurel (Laur Biarzhanin)
assistant director Svetlana Sugako
stage manager Viktoryia Biran
producers Natalia Kaliada, Nicolai Khalezin
"…a poetic evocation of daily life in a totalitarian regime that at times conjures moments of startling beauty and transcendence…
Far from being humorless, their performances occasionally inject a welcome sense of comedy and irony into the tragic proceedings…
Discover Love leaves a strong desire to learn more…"
David Ng from LA Times
"…should be seen by everyone who wants confirmation of the continuing relevance and vitality of theater as an art form…
Darkness is always more intense when you have glimpsed the sun."
Ben Brantley, The New York Times
"Discover Love" is a love story based on real events from the life of Irina Krasovskaya, whose husband Anatoly was kidnapped and murdered for rendering assistance to the democratic body of Belarus. Collection of materials for the piece "Discover Love" took nine years.
The personal story of Irina Krasovskaya intermingles with those similar ones of the women from Asia and South America and Latin America, whose husbands, wives, mothers or sisters were kidnapped and murdered or still kept in jails by political reasons.
BELARUS FREE THEATRE
The Belarus Free Theatre is without doubt one of the most interesting theater groups in the European art scene, winner of numerous awards and prizes, including the Total Impact Award, conferred by the Italian Institute of Culture, during the Edinburgh Festival 2013, in memory of Vincenzo Cerami.
The political commitment of the company is accompanied by an extraordinary technical and artistic ability and by an engaging theatrical form that has thrilled audiences all over the world.
Belarus Free Theatre represents a voice of dissent, out of the chorus, a voice that fights for democracy and for art, despite the great difficulty and risk. It was founded in Minsk in 2005 by playwright and journalist Nikolai Khalezin and playwright Natalia Kolyada, who since then direct the company along with director Vladimir Shcherban. They were forced to act in clandestine conditions (it is the only cultural institution in the world to be awarded the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic) and by the end of 2010, following the unrest and demonstrations that broke out across the country as a reaction to dictator Aliaksandr Lucashenko’s re-election, some of them were forced to flee. They currently living in England as political refugees. The group members remained in Belarus are still controlled by the police. Without a fixed place, the rehearsals are held in total secrecy, directed via Skype from London by director Vladimir Shcherban. And performances happen also secretly in private apartments or in the countryside, where the public is invited through word of mouth.
The company has received the support of leading personalities from the theater and from international public life as: Vaclav Havel, Hillary Clinton, Mick Jagger, Ariane Mnouchkine, Mark Ravenhill, Jude Law, Kevin Spacey. Them Tom Stoppard said: "Compared to my theater, what I saw is much closer to the real theater, its origins, its objective" and Harold Pinter: "Belarus Free Theatre gives us back the essence of theater."
"They’re bringing back the essence meaning of the theatre".
Harold Pinter
"The Free Theatre’s work is of an exceptionally high standard"
Mark Ravenhill
