A few weeks ago I found myself in an Art Gallery with a friend of mine, and we wandered into the room devoted to modern art installations. Such art I normally find banal and pointless and if I had not have been with a friend I would have walked straight through without so much as a second glance. My friend stopped however and stood staring at one installation. It was a very simple design, a brick wall; three bricks high and 20 bricks long built in the traditional wall fashion. The only difference between this and any other wall was that after 10 bricks the wall had a gap in it before it continued. Just a small gap, but a noticeable one. The work was called 'Rift' and I forget the artist. I turned to my friend and he was crying. He just stood there looking at these bricks and was crying. My friend is a Jew.
Why did I tell this story? For two reasons. Firstly and most importantly to show that art, no matter what art, can have a profound effect and be extremely politically emotive. Something which Belarus Free Theatre - the company behind Burning Doors - knows so well and judges so expertly. But also secondly, to note that it is simple and stark images which have the most dramatic effect and stay with us the longest. Again, Belarus Free Theatre are the masters of this too.
Belarus Free Theatre was established in 2005 in Minsk (the capital of Belarus). It was formed in order that artists and theatre practitioners could outwardly express their political feelings without fear of governmental repression or retribution. And unless you know about Belarus, and its 'relationship' with Russia, you can be forgiven for thinking that that, in the 21st Century, is surely unnecessary. Surely mankind has moved on since those Draconian Medieval days? In some places around the world it has; and yet we are living on the doorstep of a great Behemoth which despite what those in power would have us belief; life there can still be compared with the Dark Ages in terms of government control, repression, lack of freedom of expression, and being allowed to live your life as you would like. I speak of Russia of course. And since I have recently returned from a trip to Moscow this summer, this piece of theatre affirmed what I had witnessed; that all is most definitely not well amongst the Russian populus. 
Burning Doors is about political prisoners. People being held in prisons, tortured in prisons, and indeed being put to death in prisons because they simply stood up for what they believed in and opposed the government. And even if they didn't actually do anything even vaguely anarchistic they were still arrested on a trumped up charge and imprisoned anyway - just to be on the safe side. This is dictatorship and authoritarian rule in the extreme; and yes, it is still happening right under our noses. In Belarus death by a bullet in your back still exists, and of course in Russia things are just as desperate for those with vision, for those who are not willing to be drugged sheep following blindly whatever dogma spouts from the Dragon's mouth.
Belarus Free Theatre then is a very brave and bold organisation; daring to stand up for what they believe to be basic human rights; things which our distant forefathers have fought for and that we now take for granted. Using strong political images, both recorded on a screen at the back of the stage, and reinterpreted in word and action on stage, using only black and white throughout, this was a highly physical and brutal piece of agitprop theatre.
This piece of theatre is a simple heartfelt plea, no punches pulled, and told plainly and simply, we hear the horror stories of prison life and how you are treated before, during and after your prison sentence. The 'story' centres around three such examples of political imprisonment, and using contemporary Russian literature as well as their own first hand accounts this is, just like my Jewish friend, something I simply could not take my gaze from and came out with tears in my eyes.
Firstly, the play is dedicated to Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker who, for crimes he did not actually commit, is now serving a 20 year sentence in a Russian prison. We also heard the stories of Petr Pavlensky, a performance artist and activist who sewed his lips together and nailed his scrotum to Red Square; and finally the story of Maria (Masha) Alyokhina, a member of Pussy Riot, the feminist Punk Rock Group, who was sent to prison, her sentence hooliganism and political activism.
Alyokhina was part of the cast this evening, and watching her on stage taking about her experiences gave the whole play much more immediacy and relevance.
It was an uncompromising and compelling 105 minutes. It started simply and quite softly, but by the end the physicality and brutality had taken over and it became harder and harder to watch, and yet you still couldn't take your eyes from the stage. Even in those few moments of sarcasm (not humour) I found it difficult to laugh, it wasn't a laughing matter.
The whole piece was devised and performed by Pavel Haradnitski, Kiryl Kanstantsinau, Siarhei Kvachonak, Maryia Sazonava, Stanislava Shablinskaya, Andrei Urazau, Maryna Yurevich, and Maria Alyokhina. Written and directed by Nicolai Khalezin, assisted by Natalia Kaliada with original drum music by Alexander Lyulakin and the Ukrainian band 'Boombox', this was incredibly powerful, emotive and despite the theatricality, also very real. Even the stark set of three prison doors and a scaffold (Nicolai Khalezin) and costumes of black was excellently thought out and were just perfect.
If you don't want to be moved and appalled, or if you don't have an ounce of humanity in your soul, then please don't go and watch this play. If you do however, then this is simply the most heartfelt dramatic representation of a side of Russia (and Belarus) that the Powers-that-be would much rather have us forget and brush under the carpet!
The play is spoken throughout in Russian and Belorussian, with a couple of traditional folk songs too, and the English translations (extremely accurate) are projected above the actors.
Stunning! Excellent!
However, this play is not a play for its own sake. This is a political play and is touring now to raise awareness of the situation that Oleg Sentsov and many others like him are facing. It is a real and inhumane problem. More information about his plight and how we can help can be found on the company's website, www.belarusfreetheatre.com
Reviewer: Mark Dee
Reviewed:10th October 2016
North West End Rating: ★★★★★
