Belarus Free Theatre

Please note: the age guidance is 16 and over as this performance features full male and female nudity as well as scenes of violence and torture

Performed in Russian with English subtitles.

In this show, Belarus Free Theatre have combined forces with Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokina.

Burning Doors interrogates what happens to people when they are declared enemies of the state simply for making art, and tells the stories of three artists who have been imprisoned in Russian jails for their work. How the meaning of home and displacement reframes under systematic coercion and ideological warfare.

This brand new production blends sensuous theatricality and vigorous physicality to shine a light on total suppression of artistic freedoms, drawn from the real-life stories of iconoclastic Russian performance artist Petr Pavlensky, incarcerated Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina.

Belarus Free Theatre is the first refugee-led theatre company in the UK and the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds. Burning Doors draws on the company’s own experience of political oppression and continues their campaign to stand up for artistic freedom and human rights across the globe, reminding us, once again, that theatre can be a revolutionary art.

Belarus Free Theatre's work champions artistic freedom of expression and human rights, and are the first refugee-led theatre company in the UK, and the only theatre company banned by its government on political grounds.

Expect a hard-hitting story shot through with striking visual images and beautiful choreography with very strong physical performances from the Belarusian ensemble.

Burning Doors is created in partnership with ArtReach as part of Journeys Festival International. Developed at Falmouth University’s Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA). Funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.