Belarus Free Theatre will both return to its only permanent home, the Young Vic, and play a series of underground performances this autumn as it celebrates its 10th birthday.
The Staging A Revolution festival will see revivals of the lauded company’s productions of King Lear and Being Harold Pinter play at the Young Vic between 9 and 14 November alongside the world premiere of new work Time Of Women.
Revivals of other BFT hits will play at undisclosed locations in the previous week, emulating the experience of seeing the company’s work in Belarus, where their performances are banned.
The celebrations will kick off with a concert, named I’m With The Banned, at KoKo on 18 October featuring a line-up including David Gilmour, Pussy Riot, Kim Cattrall, Neil Tennant and Juliet Stevenson.
Speaking about the celebration, BFT co-founder Natalia Kaliada said: “Over the last few years, freedoms in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have been challenged by a corrupt power that has its roots in the Soviet Union. We cannot stay silent and allow this to continue to happen and potentially extend its grasp even further into Europe.
“The artists performing in our concert, I’m With The Banned have all experienced the pressure of censorship in that geopolitical knot. We need musicians to be free to be outspoken; we need their voices to inspire us to continue to fight for equality, justice, freedom and democracy.”
Staging A Revolution joins an autumn line-up at the Young Vic that also includes a new version of Macbeth blending Shakespeare’s text with powerful choreography, Ivo Van Hove directing Simons Stephens’ Song From Far Away, and Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure starring Romola Garai.