MBE For Services to Theatre Awarded to Co-Founding Artistic Directors of Belarus Free Theatre

Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, the co-founding Artistic Directors of the award-winning Belarus Free Theatre, the leading refugee-led theatre company in the UK, have been awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for Services to Theatre in the King's Birthday 2023 Honours List.

Described by The New York Times as, “one of the bravest and most inspired underground troupes on the planet”, Belarus Free Theatre (BFT) is the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds.

Over the past eighteen years, BFT has combined art and activism using theatre to build a movement for democracy, human rights and artistic freedoms.

BFT's theatre – 50 stage productions performed in more than 40 countries around the world – has consistently challenged dictatorships, signalled the erosion of democratic rights and freedoms, and called for accountability on the world stage.

Many of BFT's productions have brought together banned artists from Belarus and Ukraine together with artists who live in political freedom to stand up for artistic freedom of expression and against injustice. These collaborations include: the concert, Staging A Revolution: I'm with the Banned, in 2015, which featured a line-up including David Gilmour, Pussy Riot, Brutto and Boombox; the documentary film, Alone, which charted the political awakening of one of Ukraine's biggest popstars, Andrei Khluvniuk; and more recently, the stage production, Dogs of Europe, described by the Daily Telegraph as “an unnerving drama that foresaw the war in Ukraine”.

Natalia Kaliada, said: “It is incredibly humbling to be recognised with such an important honour by the King. Over a decade ago, the UK granted us political asylum and became our second home. This award recognises our achievements in the world of theatre, the artistic expression of our continuous fight for human rights and freedoms, enabled by the democracy we now call home. As artists and as citizens we believe it is more urgent than ever to see an end to Russia's war in Ukraine and an end to the dictatorship of Belarus to ensure the future safety and stability of Europe”.

Nicolai Khalezin, said: “We fight tirelessly for art and expression because it shapes who we are as humans and as nations, and yet we live in a time when it often feels like the arts and theatre don't matter anymore. An honour such as this re-emphasises the essence of why we do what we do, and we share it with everyone who has ever been part of our creative process – both on stage and off stage”.

This autumn BFT will stage the world premiere of King Stakh's Wild Hunt, a thrilling gothic noir at the Barbican Theatre (14 to 16 September). The production will interlace opera, theatre, multimedia and live music to tell a story rooted in the history of Belarus with blazing relevance to contemporary Europe and our indifference to brutality. Find out more: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2023/event/belarus-free-theatre-king-stakhs-wild-hunt

 

About Belarus Free Theatre:

Described by The New York Times as, “one of the bravest and most inspired underground troupes on the planet”, Belarus Free Theatre (BFT) is the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds.

BFT was founded in 2005, creating, educating and performing theatre in Minsk in the context of Europe's last dictatorship, and forced to operate underground as one of the country's leading resistance movements.

In 2011, following years of intimidation, arrests and imprisonment for making theatre, its co-founding Artistic Directors, Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, were forced to leave Belarus and were granted political asylum in the UK. Soon after, BFT became an Associate Company at London's Young Vic Theatre, under the Artistic Directorship of David Lan.

Over the past eighteen years, BFT has originated some of the world's most provocative and breathtakingly physical theatre – 50 productions performed in more than 40 countries around the world. BFT's stage productions have consistently challenged dictatorships, signalled the erosion of democratic rights and freedoms, and called for accountability on the world stage.

Alongside exploding taboos on the world stage, BFT has pioneered an award-winning global model of activism that unites artistic, geopolitical, environmental and human rights concerns, using theatre to build a movement for democracy, human rights and artistic freedoms.

In December 2021, BFT was forced to relocate its 16-strong acting ensemble and their family members out of Belarus to safety. The decision was taken in response to the severe risk of reprisals they face as some of the most prominent opponents of the Belarusian regime. Since then BFT operates between the UK and Poland, creating ambitious stage productions that tour internationally alongside running a theatre laboratory for children and adults displaced by the war in Ukraine.

Awards for BFT include: the Magnitsky Prize, which recognises work in the field of human rights and anti-corruption (2020); the Human Rights Foundation's Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent (2018); the Freedom Award, presented by the Atlantic Council at its annual Wroclaw Global Forum (2011); the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic (2007); The Stage newspaper's International Award (2021); and in 2000/2001, Natalia Kaliada received two Meritorious Honour Awards for Personal Bravery and Courage from the US State Department.

BFT is an Associate Company at London's Young Vic Theatre and Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre and has a long-standing partnership with The Public Theater and LaMaMa in New York.

The Board of BFT is: Michael Attenborough CBE, Mark Ball (Chair), Tania Clark, Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws, David Lan CBE, Jude Law, The Rt Hon Dame Maria Miller MP, Alison Stanley, Laura Wade and Samuel West. BFT Life Patrons are Sir Tom Stoppard, President Vaclav Havel and Harold Pinter.

Fore more information, visit: https://belarusfreetheatre.com/

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