In the night all cows are black. Mark Ravenhill writes of the Free Theatre in Belarus, its 'performances... forbidden by Belarus's restrictive regime, which controls every aspect of life in the country'. Many of its actors have lost their jobs at state theatres, some have lost their homes. Ravenhill reports on the international support the Free Theatre has received:
Tom Stoppard has proved an enthusiastic advocate, as has Mick Jagger; Harold Pinter lets the company perform his work anywhere in the world without paying royalties. "We met Pinter," says Khalezin. "He told us that Britain was a dictatorship, too. We listened in respectful silence and then we told him about our situation. He had to agree we had a far worse dictatorship." Khalezin laughs his habitual rich laugh and the rest of the company laugh with him.What else to do but laugh?