| The interview which took place on Thursday Feb 21st with Belarus Free Theatre, chaired by Fintan O'Toole, was an inspiring and insightful event. A podcast of the interview will be available shortly. To be notified, please join our mailing list. As Ireland approaches the centenary of the 1916 Rising, Druid, in common with many other cultural organisations will be seeking to reflect upon and interrogate the events leading to the foundation of the state. As an early part of this process, the company is developing a programme of events with writers and theatre companies working in places of revolution around the globe today. One such theatre company is Belarus Free Theatre. Based in Minsk, Belarus Free Theatre creates performances that are acclaimed internationally yet continuously face suppression on its home ground. Druid in association with Theatre Forum has arranged for a public interview with Belarus Free Theatre to take place at Project, Dublin, at 3pm, 21 February 2008. To book: Contact Project 01 881 9613 / 14 Venue: Project 39 East Essex Street Temple Bar Dublin 2 Date: Thursday February 21st Time: 3pm – 5pm THIS EVENT IS FREE but seating is limited so early booking is advised. Founding member and General Director, Natalia A. Koliada will be joined by collaborator and director Vladimir Sherban. The interview will be chaired by Fintan O'Toole. Home for Belarus Free Theatre is various discrete apartments in Minsk where performances are held in private in order to elude the authorities of Alyaksandra Lukashenka, head of what’s known as the ‘last dictatorship in Europe.’ On 22 August 2007 a performance by this underground theatre group was stormed by state forces and fifty people were arrested. ABOUT BELARUS FREE THEATRE Belarus Free Theatre has been seen in the UK, the US, France, Greece, Russia and elsewhere and acknowledged with the some of the most prestigious theatre, cultural and human rights honours in Europe including ‘Premiums of Europe’ award from the European Theatrical Convention and the French Republic Awards in Defence of Human Rights. It continues to draw international support from prominent playwrights Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Václav Havel. Belarus Free Theatre states that its task "will be ended when the situation in Belarus will be changed from dictatorial regime to democracy." This young, underground theatre troupe are currently bringing a rare performance of two plays (Being Harold Pinter and Generation Jeans) in repertory to the Soho Theatre, London from Feb 11 – 23, 2008. Being Harold Pinter combines transcripts from Belarusian political prisoners with excerpts from Pinter’s plays and his landmark speech to the Nobel Prize Committee. Generation Jeans takes a ferociously humorous look at symbols of freedom in Belarus and the ironic role that denim has to play. THIS EVENT IS FREE but seating is limited so early booking is advised. PLEASE NOTE: The interview will be conducted in Russian with simultaneous translation by a Russian translator. Druid in association with Theatre Forum invites you to attend this one-off public interview with three of the key theatre-makers of our time at Project, 3pm, Thurs 21 February 2008. | 
