The performance is based on Harold Pinter’s plays and his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, as well as letters from Belarusian prisoners. Its main theme is the problem of violence; family violence, violence in social institutions and international relations. In the performance fiction is interspersed with reality. Among the characters we can recognize some public figures, famous for their political or social activity. Reflections on the events that took place in Abu-Ghraib are accompanied by real monologues of political prisoners. The play begins and ends with an attempt to find answers for the questions asked by Pinter in his speech. What does the creative process of writing a play look like? What is the difference between truth in real life and truth in theatre? Should artists get involved in politics?
Belarus Free Theatre was founded in March 2005 by Nikolai Khalezin and Natalia Koliada, who were later joined by director Vladimir Shcherban. In their country their activity is kept underground. They stage plays by forbidden playwrights, teach young artists in Fortinbras (an underground art centre founded in 2008), publish plays by contemporary Belarusian writers and present their works around Europe. The theatre draws on the experiences and knowledge of all its members. Some of their performances are: “Generation Jeans”, “Zone of Silence” or “Discover Love”, which started an artistic campaign supporting United Nations Convention against Enforced Disappearances.