Home / What's on/ Discover Love

Discover Love

29th - 29th September 2022

Discover Love is a stirringly original drama, researched over nine years, and based on the true story of Irina Krasovskaya and her husband Anatoly, a businessman who supported the Belarus opposition movement. One fateful evening in 1999, Anatoly called to say that he would be coming home late. Irina never saw her husband again. His car was later discovered, but his body has never been found; he simply “disappeared”.

Discover Love traces Irina’s reaction to the news of her husband’s murder: the shock, the realisation, and most powerfully, the loss of a love that continued to blossom.

More info about the show – here!

Buy tickets

Watch a clip of Discover Love here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038x587

“The powerful dialogue, delivered with unerring directness by actors who have evolved together with the company over the past decade and a half, accomplishes far more than any amount of expensive stagecraft could ever achieve”

The New York Times, 16 April 2020

GALLERY

A black and white rehearsal image of two performers talking to each other

A man is smelling orange while a woman looks at him

A man is lying down in pain while a woman sits behind him looking elsewhere

A man is falling on the ground while a woman is sitting behind looking in the abyss

A man is lying on hubcaps lined up in a cross

A man lying on hubcaps and another man is walking around him with a whip

A close up of a man looking in the abyss while a woman is sitting behind him

Home / What's on/ Eurepica. Challenge.

Eurepica. Challenge.

28th February 2009

Welcoming aboard Eurepica Airlines! Join us for an unsettling tour of a continent you thought you knew. Eurepica. Challenge. unites 12 playlets penned by writers from across Europe and the US in a dramatic exploration on the themes of tyranny and brutality.

High Words from BFT’s co-founding Artistic Director Nicolai Khalezin dramatises a meeting between an interrogator and a dissident student – represented by a watermelon – in an unforgettably visceral monologue.

“Vladimir Shcherban’s fine staging deftly masters the contrasts between the plays, and the shifts in tone within them, using shiny new luggage as the only props and a giant screen from which huge faces, sometimes only the mouths, smile on us or threaten”

The Times, 22 July 2011

Gallery

A shirtless performer is grunting. It seems that he has crushed something with both his fists and mouth.

Six performers in a uniform are standing in a v formation. Each of them are holding an open bag of crisps upside down, letting all the crisps fall on the floor. In the middle lies a trash can

Five performers in uniform are singing, dancing and playing a portable keyboard piano.

A performer covered in white pain is dragging two other performers, grabbing them by their hair.

On the foggy stage with blue lighting, there is a silhouette of a performer holding a stick on the floor. At the end of the stick, there lies a small and long tunnel toy with fairy lights inside.

Seven performers are on the stage with their mouths tapes on. In the middle lies a table and one of the performers is standing on it holding up a fire bottle bomb. In the background, there is a huge painting of French revolution

A performer wearing a uniform is holding a knife. Next to the performer lies a watermelon on a table

A performer wearing a uniform is on a phone. There is also a silhouette of a person riding bicycle.

Home / What's on/ A Flower for Pina Bausch

A Flower for Pina Bausch

20th December 2010

A Flower for Pina Bausch takes its inspiration from the words of its namesake, the incomparable artist who once said: “I’m not interested in how people move, I wonder what makes them tick”.

In a theatrical meditation on the universal predicament of “missed opportunities” personal stories are excavated and rigorously interrogated by members of BFT’s permanent ensemble to illuminate lingering phantoms of the unfinished, the unacknowledged, the unsaid.

Seamlessly blending light and shade, humour and pathos, this is a lyrical and expressionistic performance that reaches to touch the broadest arc of the human experience.

“The group’s relentless quest for freedom of expression reaches its sublimated heights with A Flower for Pina Bausch”

Time Out Hong Kong, 2011

GALLERY

Back shot of a person sitting on a chair and a fire in front of the person

A woman with a long red skirt reaching out in the air

A woman with a red fabric wrapped around her arms

A woman holding cutlery in front of the dish rack

Over the shoulder shot of two people talking

A woman with her waist wrapped around with red fabric, arched back and two people pulling each end of the fabric

A man holding a laptop while on a video call with a woman

A woman arched back with her waist wrapped around with red fabric

Home / What's on/ New York ‘79

New York ‘79

28th - 31st May 2010

New York ’79 is BFT’s theatrical response to experimental novelist, feminist and punk icon Kathy Acker’s seminal short story, New York City in 1979, “a tale of art, sex, blood, junkies and whores” that reveals the fault lines between sexual identity, politics and power.

The Guardian, 17 June 2012

Gallery

Close up to an old style microphone standing in front of a red stage curtain

Dark room with a spotlight on the wall on which there lies a red stage curtain. A microphone stands right in front of the curtain. On the right hand side, there is a performer in a pair of sunglasses sitting, wearing a black and red outfit.

Close up to a performer standing in front of the red stage curtain and is holding an old style microphone

Two performers in front of a red stage curtain. One is covered in orange spray paint, loosely wearing a white shirt. The performer is holding a long stick on top of which is attached to a large sheet of white fabric. Another performer stands in front of the white fabric, playing around, wearing an orange wig and tight red latex dress.

A performer is lying down wearing a corset, garter belt and pantyhose. The performer is vigorously moving and three others are knelt down around the performer either trying to stop or help.

Dark room with a large spotlight on a performer who is knelt down on one knee, between two legs of another performer with their legs wide spread out. The one in their knee is holding up an old fashioned microphone horizontally with one hand and is singing.

Dark room with a large spotlight on a wall with red stage curtain. In the middle there is a shadow of a person standing. Another performer is running towards that curtain,

Dark room with a large spotlight on two performers. They are standing in front of a red stage curtain, right behind an old fashioned microphone. One with a gold mask is carrying another on their shoulder. The one being carried is wearing a corset with garter belt and pantyhose, holding a pillow and frowning.

Three performers in the spotlight in front of a red stage curtain. One with a heavy make up and flamboyant black feather hat and feather boa is sitting on a chair and looks unamused. Two others are standing behind them on each side. One in a blue sleeveless shirt is smiling with their left arm up. The other performer is looking in front while wearing a black shirt.

Home / What's on/ On the blessed, blind and sucking

On the blessed, blind and sucking

19th May 2011

On the blessed, blind and sucking is a theatrical creation by members of BFT’s theatre laboratory, Fortinbras, the only independent arts school in Belarus, which was founded by Nicolai Khalezin in 2007. Set in a one-room apartment on the outskirts of Minsk, the production centres around a young girl called Zhenya as she sets out to uncover the secret histories of her own family.

GALLERY

Two performers are sitting on a line of luggage bags. One on the left is drinking from a bottle of something. A performer is holding his arm and sitting next to him. Blue light is shining upon them like a sunset light through a window.

A performer in red cardigan, polka dot skirt and yellow knee-high socks is standing next to a knelt down performer. The one on their knee has their head bent forward as if being punished and holding a piece of chalk and cloth. In front of her, there's line of numbers scribbled with chalk.

Dark room with dim blue rectangle light shining in like it's coming from outside through a window. A performer is sitting on a luggage and drinking something from a bottle.

A line of luggage is sitting in an otherwise empty room. Two people are on the ground one hugging the back of another. Dim blue light is shining on the wall like it's coming from a window

Shadow of three people on a wall. Dim blue light makes everything look blue.

A line of luggage is sitting in an otherwise empty room. Dim blue light is shining on the wall like it's coming from a window. One performer is sitting on a luggage and is reading a book.

A line of luggage is sitting in an otherwise empty room. Dim blue light is shining on the wall like it's coming from a window. One person is standing in a corner with their arms behind as if being punished for something. Two people are sitting on a luggage, on person trying to calm the other.

A line of luggage is sitting in an otherwise empty room. Dim blue light is shining on the wall like it's coming from a window. Three people are sitting on the luggage, on on the left wrapping their arms around the one in the middle. All three of them are looking at something in front, unamused

In an empty room, several luggage are piled on top of each other. One performer is standing in the middle, holding a black plastic bucket

A line of luggage is sitting in an otherwise empty room. Dim blue light is shining on the wall like it's coming from a window. Five performers are sitting on the luggage and are smiling and laughing.

Two people are standing. One in the right is wearing a red cardigan and a polka dot skirt with their arms on the waist. The one on the left is leaning against the wall, looking down.

Home / What's on/ King Lear

King Lear

17th May 2012

King Lear, Shakespeare’s great play about speaking the truth was one of the highlights of 2012’s Globe to Globe Festival (part of the World Shakespeare Festival, itself part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad).

Drawing on their first-hand experience of tyranny and exile, BFT premiered a fresh reading of the text drawing parallels between Lear’s spiralling court and Belarusian society, whilst also interrogating the universality of power unwisely yielded.

A stripped-back set and BFT’s characteristically arresting visual style made this a vigorous and thoroughly contemporary Lear.

Watch a clip of Belarus Free Theatre’s production of King Lear here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bcp4p

“This not-to-be-missed King Lear that feels like a great howl of rage suffused with mortality and absurdity…If you’ve seen these Belarusians before, you’ll already know they are the real deal: artists who have paid such a steep personal price to pursue their calling that high dramatic stakes come with preternatural ease”

The Chicago Tribune, 7 February 2016

Gallery

Four performers with head masks and white vest carrying another performer. While being carried in her tight strapless dress, half of her torso is revealed

On the left-hand side, one performer is on a wheelchair reading something from a brown piece of paper. Between his legs, a stream of water is shooting out and another performer on the right-hand side is catching that stream of water with a mint coloured bucket.

One performer witha a green beanie is lying on the ground with legs up and holding a cigarette. Another performer carrying a performer in black striped suit is bent down right on top of the performer lying down. Both of them are shouting at the performer with a cigarette.

Close up to the performer giving piggyback ride. The one getting the ride is now without the jacket and is holding a bible, desperately holding onto the one giving the ride.

One performer is standing in the middle with a gauntlet on the right hand. On his front and back, two performers with fury coat are hanging on his shoulders with their arms wrapped around.

The performer with a gauntlet on the right hand is pointing at something in front and shouting. Behind him, there is a wave made out of large blue sheet of plastic. Other performers are shaking every end of the plastic to create the wavy effect.

Four performers are naked and are lying one the floor under the blue sheet of plastic. One of them has a gauntlet on the right hand and is talking to the others while sitting sideways. The naked performer on the left has a tattoo on his back that reads "King Lear" with a crown symbol and a drawing of a middle finger out.

The performer with a gauntlet on the right hand is knelt down and is cracking an egg with his forehead. The egg yolk is splashing everywhere.

Two performers are on a large sheet of red plastic. One is lying down with arms spread out, wearing a black eye patch. The other one is on top of that performer, pushing her neck with his palm.

Home / What's on/ Ivanov family’s New Year tree

Ivanov family’s New Year tree

28th December 2012

Ivanov family’s New Year tree is a staging of the 1938 play, Christmas at the Ivanovs’ by Alexander Ivanovich Vvedensky, the preeminent early Soviet-era avant-gardist writer.

An unexplained murder rips through the heart of family festivities on Christmas Eve as a macabre story starts to unfold. Though never performed during Vvedensky’s lifetime, this largely overlooked experimental play remains as astonishingly prescient today as it was in the 1930s reminding us why absurdism, which holds nothing as absolute, is so feared by totalitarian regimes.

GALLERY

Black and white image of nine performers are standing in one line, smiling. They are all wearing a festive clothing.

Black and white image of six performers sitting on an array of chairs lined up along the wall. One other performer is sitting in the middle by the knee and is playing with a beheaded doll. One other performer is standing next to him, seemingly dancing. Everyone is in a festive clothing.

Black and white image of people are sitting on a chair along the wall. Two couple stands in the middle showing off a wheelbarrow position.

Black and white image of seven performers chanting and showing a move with one arm in the air. There is one performer in the middle who seems to be casting a spell to a beheaded doll.

Black and white image close up to the performer casting spell on a beheaded doll. Other performers are sitting around the witch

Black and white image of a performer in the middle wearing a ushanka hat. She has handcuffs on her wrists which are linked together with a long tinsel. The performer is holding a broken doll, the head on the right and and the body on the left. Other performers are sitting on a chair looking at the performer in the middle.

Broken doll is lying on the floor. One performer with a venetian mask is walking around the broken doll, holding his jacket with his arms spread out.

Black and white image of a performer standing in a middle showing off a dance move while the others sit on a chair and watch

Black and white image of a performer with a ushanka hat and trying to get closer to other performers in chair. The others look weary

Black and white image of a performer standing in the middle pointing finger gun at the other performers sitting on a chair. The ones on the chair are pointing the finger guns at the performer in the middle as well.

Black and white image of a performer in the middle ripping something sparkly apart vigorously. The others are sitting on a chair by the wall and are watching.

Black and white image of the performers on a chair long the wall sleeping. One other performer is walking around and looking at them.

Black and white image of a couple in the middle in a sexual position. The rests are sleeping at the back on the chair

Black and white image of a performer sitting on the floor seemingly trying to get away from another performer who is standing on a chair. There is another performer wearing scream mask and a father christmas jacket.

Black and white image of a performer in screaming mask with a father christmas clothing jumping. There is another performer on the side playing keyboard to it.

Black and white image of two performers sitting around a broken doll. Others are sitting behind on a chair and are watching

Black and white image of two performers with masks arguing. The rests are sitting behind watching.

Black and white image of all the performers celebrating something by shooting confetti cannons

Black and white image of a performer standing on a log in the middle. This performer has handcuffs on the wrists which are linked together by long tinsel. The rest of the performers are sitting in the background on a chair, watching.

Black and white image of five performers looking up at something. They are all wearing a festive clothing

Black and white image of four performers frightened by something and backing up. One other performer is holding up a doll to it with a desperate expression.

Black and white image of people looking at something with a desperate emotion

Home / What's on/ Animal

Animal

Two people sitting in front of a frame on which alcohol bottles are hanging

2nd December 2012

Animal is a verbatim play written by BFT’s long-standing ensemble member, Yulia Shevchuk, drawn directly from real life experiences. The story focuses on a family of young alcoholics – Seriozha and an unnamed woman – to explore the idea of everyday heroism and the extraordinary ordinary.

Sometimes those closest to us – our neighbours, our friends and our families – are the people we notice the least. Animal redirects our attention towards the rediscovery of the known in a celebration of compassion and understanding.

“In the verbatim “animal” love as the highest value is called into question. Glorified as the highest feeling, it turns out, albeit in an anomalous form, to be accessible, including to animals. And the person, it turns out, is something else. Yulia Shevchuk with the actors of the Free Theater discovers this different: it becomes visible and obvious when a person, regardless of his social status, loses it, turning into – an animal.”

Tania Arcimovich (theatre critic), 7 June 2013

Home / What's on/ Nearest and Dearest

Nearest and Dearest

21st December 2012

Nearest and Dearest is a theatrical staging of a collection of short stories by contemporary Belarusian playwright, Konstantin Steshik. Steshik received the Special Prize in the First International Contest of Contemporary Drama in 2005 – a competition originated by Belarus Free Theatre – for his play Red Hood.

Nearest and Dearest is a vividly retelling of intimate childhood memories as the veil of nostalgia is lifted to reveal hard truths about the profound emotional void between ourselves and those closest to us.

“It’s great when you go after a show and in your head there are so many thoughts, impressions and emotions….such fermentation. This is a very pleasant feeling, bordered by happiness. You know, that intermediate moment, you are no longer in the audience, but you would still be there. Thank you guys for this, you are very, very cool!”

Audience member, 18 December 2016

GALLERY

Blurry image of seven performers in black suits and dresses smiling and posing for photo. One is holding an accordion

Close up and blurry image of the hands of a performer knelt on the floor. The performer is arranging little piece of paper in one line next to a jar

Blurry image of a performer wearing suits holding his hands up as if to stop something. Behind him, there stands three boards of metal like a closet. On top, there is a black triangle shaped object.

Blurry image of a performer moving. The movement is so fast that it is hard to tell what is happening.

Three performers sitting down in black suits or dress. Two on the left is playing an accordion together and the other one on the right is holding a baby

Behind shot of a performer standing in a black suit

Blurry image of a performer swaying with both arms up in the air

Black and white image of a close up of a performer in a black suit.

Two performers are sitting in front of a metal object shaped like a closet. They are looking at the front.

Black and white image of the metal object. A spotlight highlights the object in the darkness.

Black and white image. On the left, there is a sheer glimpse of a lighting. Overall, it is difficult to tell what the image is.

Close up to a hand in the darkness. A performer is holding a bright light.

A performer wearing a black dress and a black fedora stands right in front of the metal object shaped like a closet.

In a dark room a blue face of some one is projected on the wall.

Blurry image of a dark room and three performers each holding light

Blurry image of a person smiling. Dimmed blue light is laid on this person

Several people sitting on a chair looking to their left. Among them, one of the performers is sitting as well with a jar in front of them

The performer sitting among the audience is holding up a jar either smelling what's inside or drinking it. Bright light shine on their face.

In a dark room slightly hinted with blue lighting. On the right hand side, there is a metal board shaped as like a closet. On the left, there is a shadow of a person

Blurry image of a performer holding a jar

Dark and blurry image of a performer holding a jar.

Dark room hinted with dimmed blue lighting. The light highlights fog in the room.

Home / What's on/ EmDEm

EmDEm

EmDEm (2012) is a contemporary dance work created by members of BFT’s theatre laboratory, Fortinbras, the only independent arts school in Belarus.

“Unusual and impressive!!”

Audience member, 17 February 2013

GALLERY

Black and white image of four performers drinking with imaginary cup. The performers are wearing white garments

Black and white image, side shot of audiences smiling while watching the show

Black and white image of the performance. Two of the performers in white garment is standing in the middle, while others are lying down

One performer in white garment is standing alone, turning their back against the camera and their hands on face.

Black and white image of two performers standing and clenching. One of the performer has a dark eyeshadow over one of the eyes

Black and white image of a performer holding up another performer horizontally on their shoulder with two arms spread out

Black and white image of four performers in white garment jumping and putting their arms up in the air

Black and white image of three performers on stage with their hands wrapped around with strings and screaming. One in the middle has the hands covering the mouth. Another performer is looking at his clenched fist.

Black and white image of four performers in white garment standing with their grasping hand in the air. Their hands are wrapped around with string and they have unique dark makeup on their right eye.

Close up to five performers' feet while they are rolled in red blanket

Black and white image of three performers in white garments looking at their grasping right hands.

Black and white image of the performers lying down with their white hands in the air.

Black and white image of three performers holding up a performer who is holding her hand in front of her mouth

Black and white image of four performers standing. Two of them are wiping sweat off their neck with cloth

Five performers rolled around with red blanket. One performer have their right leg sticking out.

Five performers wrapping themselves with red blankets with their arms up

Four performers holding the red blanket up and shouting. One other performer in on the ground with one arm on the floor and the other in the air

One performer in white garment is bent down with fist clenched up

Two performers are standing holding each end of a blanket wrapped around like a rope. In the middle stands a performer and two other performers lying on the floor holding each foot of the performer standing in the middle.

Four performers in white garments are standing by the wall and turning back

Five performers in white garments are standing in one line with their eyes wide open. They have their right arm on their head.

Five performers in white garments on stage. They have their left hand on the right armpit and a right hand grasping something in front of their face.

Five people with white garments are on stage crowded in one corner. Two performers are holding up another performer, each holding one arm up. The performer in air has her arms spread out with the knees folded as if flying.

Close up to the feet of the five performers standing in line on a red blanket

Home / What's on/ Neohipsters

Neohipsters

Home / What's on/ Trash Cuisine

Trash Cuisine

5th October 2012

Welcome to the Capital Punishment Café! Our chef’s specials today include electrocution, hanging and lethal injection. Provocative and urgent, Trash Cuisine pierces the imagination with moments of the darkest humour as it challenges the ongoing existence of capital punishment in the contemporary world. 55 countries retain the death penalty in both law and practice, and Europe remains on the list of continents where capital punishment still exists – in 2020 – because of Belarus. BFT serve up food, music, dance and Shakespeare as true stories from inmates, executioners, human rights lawyers and families of the executed take centre-stage.

Watch a clip of Trash Cuisine here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038x5sq

“Once again, Belarus Free Theatre prove their capacity to stir our consciences through their sensuous theatricality”

The Guardian, 6 June 2013