Cate Blanchett Will Join Belarus Free Theatre For a Special Event Ahead of the Barbican World Premiere of KING STAKH'S WILD HUNT

Belarus Free Theatre has announced that Cate Blanchett will be joining the company for a special event ahead of the world premiere of its latest stage production, King Stakh's Wild Hunt.

 

The stage and screen luminary, and long-standing friend and supporter of the company, will moderate a panel discussion on the impact of war and dictatorship on the children of Ukraine and Belarus at the Barbican Theatre on Friday 15 September from 5:15pm to 6:15pm, immediately before the opening night performance of King Stakh's Wild Hunt, as BFT launches its latest campaign, Letters of Hope.

 

Cate Blanchett, a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, will moderate a panel featuring:

 

Oksana Lebedeva, founder of Gen.Ukrainian, a charitable foundation supported by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, working with children who have been exposed to the horrors of the war to overcome psychological trauma.

 

Helena Niedźwiecka, founder of the Belarusian Solidarity Centre, a charity supporting exiled Belarusians and Ukrainians as they begin to rebuild their lives in Poland, with a particular focus on children and young people.

 

Natalia Kaliada MBE, co-founding Artistic Director of Belarus Free Theatre, the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds, now operating in exile as one of the leading resistance movements against the dictatorship in Belarus. Alongside creating ambitious stage productions that tour internationally, BFT runs a theatre laboratory in Warsaw for children and teenagers displaced by the war in Ukraine.

 

Oksana Lebedeva, founder of Gen.Ukrainian, said: “We are what we experience. Childhood experiences feed into adult choices, decisions, strategies and actions. Millions of children in Ukraine have been experiencing pain, fear, anger, hunger, stress, threat to life, separation from family and death of loved ones for more than 550 days now. All of our children need peace, security, love, healing and psychological rehabilitation. The mission of Gen.Ukrainian is to minimise the consequences of the war and to integrate the next generation of Ukrainians into social life through effective psychological rehabilitation. Our experience proves that love can heal the invisible wounds of children. Children who have lost everything still look at this world with hope and a desire to live. They give us as adults a second chance, a chance to do better, and we must not betray them. What we really need now is your help in delivering this tremendous work”.

 

Helena Niedźwiecka, founder of the Belarusian Solidarity Centre, said: “These days everyone talks about politics, everyone argues about the war, but very few people think about the children. Children who, in the conditions of this very war, are unable to learn how to communicate with their peers, to build their lives, to distinguish good from bad, but instead learn how to recognise the sounds of rockets, to look out for the location of mines and worry about their survival every second. The mission of our centre in Warsaw is to return a normal childhood to children affected by the war. We are working to help them restore, step by step, a sense of security, trust in the outside world and to refind their ability to enjoy themselves. All of this is only possible thanks to the work of experienced teachers and psychologists, in collaboration with the older relatives of our students”.

 

Natalia Kaliada MBE, co-founding Artistic Director of Belarus Free Theatre, said: “I am so proud to be sharing the stage with three incredible women – Cate Blanchett, Oksana Lebedeva and Helena Niedźwiecka – as BFT launches our Letters of Hope campaign. I created the Women 4 Women Alliance in 2020, to honour and amplify the voices of the women of Belarus bravely resisting the dictatorship. The Alliance was first launched together with Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and I'm so pleased to be continuing that work with this panel discussion in London to bring the world's attention back to the impact of war and dictatorship on the children of Ukraine and Belarus. It's time to work together to ensure that these young people are able to heal as they are the future of Europe”.

 

Claire Spencer, CEO of the Barbican Centre, said: “We are honoured to be supporting the incredibly brave and visionary Belarus Free Theatre who, for the past two decades, have put the safety and rights of young people at the heart of their work. At the Barbican our purpose is to connect people, to inspire action, and to provoke debate; we are delighted to welcome Oksana Lebedeva, Helena Niedźwiecka, Natalia Kaliada and Cate Blanchett to our stage to discuss this vital issue and how to support the children and young people most impacted by war.”

 

 

Over the last eighteen years, BFT has used theatre to build a movement for democracy, human rights and artistic freedoms originating more than 50 stage productions, each one with its own bespoke campaign. This September, BFT in collaboration with the Gen.Ukrainian Foundation and Belarusian Solidarity Centre, will launch the Letters of Hope campaign. It is inspired by the name of the lead character in King Stakh's Wild Hunt – Nadzeya – which means “hope” in both Belarusian and Ukrainian. Every audience member at the Barbican Theatre will find a Letter of Hope on their seat. Each letter features a drawing and a message from one of the children supported by the two charities in Belarus and Ukraine today. These drawings and messages are one of the therapeutic tools used to encourage the children to express their hopes and dreams for the future. The letters also include an action list to empower audiences – simple steps to bring about positive change within democracy.

 

Tickets are priced at £10 for the panel discussion, Letters of Hope: the impact of war and dictatorship on the children of Ukraine and Belarus, and all proceeds will be shared equally between the three charities: Gen.Ukrainian Foundation, the Belarusian Solidarity Centre and Belarus Free Theatre. To book tickets, please visit: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2023/event/belarus-free-theatre-letters-of-hope 

 

The panel discussion is a separate ticketed event to the evening performance of King Stakh's Wild Hunt.

King Stakh's Wild Hunt marks BFT's return to the Barbican following the critically and publicly acclaimed stage production, Dogs of Europe, in spring 2022, described as “unthinkably brave” (Evening Standard) and “staggeringly powerful” (Time Out). This thrilling gothic noir is based on one of the most popular novels by the visionary Belarusian writer, Uladzimir Karatkievich. Inspired by Eastern European folklore it follows the ghostly hunt to free a young heiress from an evil curse. Directed by BFT's co-founding Artistic Directors, Nicolai Khalezin and Natalia Kaliada, King Stakh's Wild Hunt is a conversation between art forms, interlacing opera, theatre, multimedia and live music to tell a story rooted in the history of Belarus with blazing relevance to Europe today and our indifference to brutality. The production brings together actors, opera singers and musicians from Belarus and Ukraine – many of whom have been forced to flee their homelands due to war or dictatorship. It is the most ambitious artistic venture BFT has ever undertaken as well as being a statement of solidarity between Belarusians and Ukrainians, united in total condemnation of the war in Ukraine.

To find out more and to book tickets, please visit: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2023/event/belarus-free-theatre-king-stakhs-wild-hunt

 

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