Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

In the Studio

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Inside the brains of the world’s most creative people

In the Studio takes us into the minds and processes of leading and emerging figures from across the creative world.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

In the Studio: Belarus Free Theatre: Directing from a distance

Magazines & Reviews

Belarus Free Theatre: Directing from a Distance

05/05/2020 GMT

Belarus Free Theatre: Directing from a distance

BBC World Service - In the Studio, Belarus Free Theatre: Directing from a distance

Belarus Free Theatre - directing a play down a Skype line from London to Minsk

We follow Belarus Free Theatre as the Minsk-based actors rehearse a new play down a Skype line with the directors in London.

The award-winning Belarus Free Theatre was founded 15 years ago to create drama around issues of human rights and creative freedom in a country which has been called Europe’s last surviving dictatorship. It creates provocative physical shows attended by audiences in secret locations around Minsk and has achieved international recognition and support. 

BFT’s founding artistic directors Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin cannot rehearse the actors face to face because they are now political refugees living in the United Kingdom. So, for the past nine years they have been using a Skype line to connect with the performers hundreds of miles away.

Natalia and Nicolai have been rehearsing the actors in a new play called Dogs of Europe, based on the novel by the contemporary Belarusian author Alhierd Bacharevic, which depicts life in a dystopian super state where individual freedoms are taken away. As well as performing in Minsk, the actors were also set to come to London and perform at the Barbican Theatre. But Covid-19 has put an end to that plan. So what will the company do instead? 

The BBC’s Olga Smirnova follows Natalia and Nikolai during the process of rehearsal and performance and hears from them and the actors about the techniques of directing from a distance. She also talks to the British actor and writer Stephen Fry who is taking part in BFT’s newest venture.

Presenter: Olga Smirnova

Producer: Olga Smirnova and Emma Kingsley

Photo credits: Daniella Kaliada/Kolya Kuprich

Accessibility links

Programme Index

In the Studio

Belarus Free Theatre: Directing from a distance

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service