Ukrainian TV channel tells about Belarus Free Theatre (Video)

• 7.08.2013, 13:36

Ukraine's 24 TV channel showed a report about the underground theatre from Belarus.

The Belarusian authorities try to close down the country's only independent theatre. Actors have to work in secret and the theatre director has to hide abroad to avoid imprisonment, 24 TV says.

The Belarus Free Theatre has been working since March 2005. The group has been renting a one-storey half-ruined house on the outskirts of Minsk since 2007.

The theatre doesn't receive any aid from the authorities. On the contrary, official try to create as many obstacles as they can. No surprise, because the theatre touches on delicate topics – dictatorship, narrow-mindness... Relations with the authorities strained after the theatre raised the theme of brutality of the Lukashenka regime during the 2010 presidential election.

You never find a single word about the Free Theatre in the Belarusian official media. Theatre posters are banned. The only source of information about performances is perhaps your friends.