Mikalay Khalezin: "All creative people now live in difficult times"
Mikalay Khalezin, the manager of the underground Free Theater in Minsk, shares his views with the European Radio for Belarus about why police commandos raided his performance yesterday and what the conditions are for creative people in Belarus.
Police yesterday broke into a private house in Minsk where the Free Theater premiered 11 Jackets by Edward Bond.
Over 50 people, including foreign nationals, were detained. The directors, actors and viewers were released from police custody in the night.
"When the government works against creative personalities, it means only one thing: the time has come when life becomes hard for all," says Mikalay Khalezin. "The problems that awlays accompany the Free Theater will arise in front of all the creative people".
Khalezin thinks that the raid on the Free Theater was a planned action, because it involved KGB, police and special riot force troops.
What are the conditions that the Free Theater will have to operate in? Khalezin says:
"The Free Theater has repeatedly faced these waves of pressure. Almost all of our actors and directors are fired from the state-run theaters. We have no financial support, no venue, nothing. It seems it is going to become even harder. I don't know to what extent".
Mikalay Khalezin also notes that the authorities have launched a physical attack on the creative environment, not political. This tells a lot.
Photo: photo.bymedia.net/
Police yesterday broke into a private house in Minsk where the Free Theater premiered 11 Jackets by Edward Bond.
Over 50 people, including foreign nationals, were detained. The directors, actors and viewers were released from police custody in the night.
"When the government works against creative personalities, it means only one thing: the time has come when life becomes hard for all," says Mikalay Khalezin. "The problems that awlays accompany the Free Theater will arise in front of all the creative people".
Khalezin thinks that the raid on the Free Theater was a planned action, because it involved KGB, police and special riot force troops.
What are the conditions that the Free Theater will have to operate in? Khalezin says:
"The Free Theater has repeatedly faced these waves of pressure. Almost all of our actors and directors are fired from the state-run theaters. We have no financial support, no venue, nothing. It seems it is going to become even harder. I don't know to what extent".
Mikalay Khalezin also notes that the authorities have launched a physical attack on the creative environment, not political. This tells a lot.
Photo: photo.bymedia.net/
