Podcast appearances and mentions of natalia kaliada

Margaret Hoover sits down with three Belarusian dissidents–exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, athlete-turned-activist Katya Snytsina, and theater director Natalia Kaliada–to discuss their fight against Aleksandr Lukashenko's dictatorship. Kaliada is co-founder of the Belarus Free Theatre, which recently debuted the play KS6: Small Forward in New York, starring Snytsina and telling the story of her journey from Belarusian Olympic basketball player to political activist. In 2020, Tsikhanouskaya's husband Sergei Tikhanovsky was arrested shortly after announcing he would run against Lukashenko. He remains in custody today, but Tsikhanouskaya ran in his place, failing to unseat Lukashenko in an election widely seen as a sham. Snytsina recalls how the mass protests that followed that election inspired her to speak out and leave the national women's basketball team. Kaliada discusses the genesis of the play and explains why art can be a uniquely effective weapon against dictators. Tsikhanouskaya reflects on life in Belarus today, offers a warning for Americans about the urgency of defending democracy abroad, and looks ahead to the country's January 2025 presidential election, which she expects will be a “farce.” This interview was recorded in September after a performance of KS6: Small Forward at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York. Support for “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover” is provided by Robert Granieri, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, The Fairweather Foundation, Peter and Mary Kalikow, Cliff and Laurel Asness, Charles R. Schwab, Damon Button, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, The Phillip I. Kent Foundation and Al and Kathy Hubbard. Corporate funding is provided by Stephens Inc.

First day on air with our daily Roskilde Festival program, live from the Container studio at the festival site! We had the pleasure of interviewing Alireza Shojaian, Natalia Kaliada, and Emmanuel Jal from the 'Art in protest' talk earlier today, Korean artist Yujin Jung and her chef, and Slauson Malone 1 – all live in the studio! Enjoy as well interviews with performance artist Mounia Nassangar, Danish choral trio Ilinx, and a bunch of lovely music and recommendations for the program.

The Belarus Free Theatre has been banned in its own country. Its artists now live in exile making powerful, political work like their latest play "Dogs of Europe". As that piece comes to the stage in Paris, the company's co-founder Natalia Kaliada speaks to FRANCE 24's Olivia Salazar-Winspear about the rise of authoritarianism in both Belarus and Russia.

His latest graphic novel sketches out the trajectory of a leader who has cast a shadow over geopolitics for two decades. Vladimir Putin's inscrutable features haunt the pages of Darryl Cunningham's book “Putin: The Rise of a Dictator”. The author and illustrator tells us more about capturing Putin's inscrutable expression, and we discuss how press crackdowns have affected Russian public opinion. We also hear from Natalia Kaliada of the Belarus Free Theatre, whose recent production “Dogs of Europe” is a warning shot in response to Russian authoritarianism, revealing the high price that Putin's critics have paid.

Author Robert Jones Jr. talks about his new novel The Prophets and the influence James Baldwin had on his life and career. Natalia Kaliada is the co-founder of Belarus Free Theatre, she talks about the radical art coming out of Belarus and Russia. Canada Reads is just over a month a way, so Kim's Convenience star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who is defending Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, drops by to talk about the book.

This week’s podcast episode is a very important one, so let’s get straight to it. Katherine and Paul speak to writer, human rights campaigner, political refugee, theatre-maker and ‘public enemy’ to Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus, Natalia Kaliada.Natalia is a founding Co-Artistic Director of Belarus Free Theatre, a collective of artists who use the power of theatre to fight for democracy in Belarus and oppose what’s known as ‘the last dictatorship in Europe’.We hear about Natalia’s own experiences living a not-so-censored life under an oppressive regime. Including her exile to London and how she continues to fight the same fight her ancestors did (her grandfather survived German concentration camps and Soviet gulags before ever Alexander Lukashenko came to dictatorial rule in his beloved Belarus). Resistance is seemingly in her DNA.Natalia shares the stories of the Belarus protesters, 15,000 of whom have been imprisoned, raped or killed by the Belarus government this year. We hear how theatre has helped some of them through their imprisonment and how Belarus Free Theatre continues to use art as a tool to take down the dictatorship.Katherine and Paul reflect on the importance of this conversation and how now, more than ever, we need to stand with the people of Belarus; not just to demand democracy for them, but to actively protect democracy around the world for everyone.Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.____ABOUT NATALIANatalia Kaliada is a founding Co-Artistic Director of Belarus Free Theatre as well as a writer, human rights campaigner and producer and is one of the most outspoken critics of Belarus’s repressive regime.Belarus Free Theatre was founded in 2005 in Europe's last surviving dictatorship, by Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin. BFT’s performances take place in selected secret venues around Minsk with audiences alerted to their existence by text message or e-mail. Although forced to operate under cover within Belarus, the Theatre has travelled widely and has gained a growing international reputation. They continue to create exceptional theatre under near impossible conditions underground in Belarus. The company has found a home as associate artists of the Young Vic, London.Natalia Kaliada has been detained, arrested without access to counsel and threatened with rape for her participation in peaceful rallies that were called “subversive” activities and “unstable elements” by the Belarusian authorities. After the tragic events in Belarus in 2010, she and her husband were smuggled out of Belarus and now live in exile in London.Website: https://www.belarusfreetheatre.com/ Instagram: @belarusfreetheatreFacebook: @belarusfreetheatreTwitter: @BFreeTheatre____TAKE ACTIONSupport Belarus Free Theatre http://www.belarusfreetheatre.com/ I’m with the Banned http://www.belarusfreetheatre.com/en/bft/imwiththebanned/#Banned Ask your local MP to add “major scumbags” who support Lukashenko’s regime to a sanctions list so their assets will be frozen.____LINKS AND RESOURCESBelarus Free Theatre https://www.belarusfreetheatre.com/ Ministry Of Counterculture https://moc.media/Who is long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko? https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/07/belarus-presidential-election-who-is-long-time-leader-alexander-lukashenko Who is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/world/europe/belarus-opposition-svetlana-tikhanovskaya.htmlAlexander Lukashenko on Coronavirus https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-belarus-alexander-lukashenko-vodka-sauna-countryside-tractors-a9434426.html Natalia on Bruatility https://euobserver.com/opinion/149384 Brutality in Belarus https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53776461 Belarus bans two opposition candidates https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/14/belarus-bans-two-opposition-candidates-from-running-in-elections Balaklava Blues http://www.balaklavablues.com/ Balaklava Blues at Greenbelt https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/artists/balaklava-blues-presented-by-belarus-free-theatre/ Generation Jeans https://theconversation.com/denim-and-revolution-belarus-free-theatres-generation-jeans-resonates-101442 Being Harold Pinter https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bcpyk Red Forest http://totaltheatre.org.uk/belarus-free-theatre-red-forest/ Discover Love https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038x587 Trash Cuisine https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p038x5sq Burning Doors https://www.vulture.com/2017/10/theater-review-burning-doors-is-a-fiery-anti-putin-scream.html Dogs of Europe https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/event/belarus-free-theatre-dogs-of-europe Belarus: thousands protest against death of teacher in police custody https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/15/belarus-thousands-protest-against-death-of-teacher-in-police-custody Is Protest Art Just Propaganda? Or is All Art a Form of Protest? https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/talks/is-protest-art-just-propaganda-or-is-all-art-a-form-of-protest/ ____00:00 - Welcome to Somewhere To Believe In01:00 - Introducing Natalia and the work do Belarus Free Theatre05:36 - Natalia joins the conversation06:44 - Natalia on Belarus Free Theatre11:20 - Natalia on generations of resistance16:12 - Natalia on a lifetime of fighting for democracy21:50 - Natalia on western democracy and dictatorship29:24 - Natalia on 2020 in Belarus41:11 - Natalia on theatre as protest49:07 - How to support Belarus Free Theatre51:36 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Natalia1:05:40 - Coming up next week 1:06:09 - How to get in touch with us1:06:56 - Thank you’s1:07:29 - Hidden track____A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.____https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/#SomewhereToBelieveIn See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Often called “Europe’s last dictator”, Aleksandr Lukashenko has been President of Belarus since 1994, frequently holding dubious elections and referenda to give his regime the veneer of democracy. Protests after the most recent contest in August, in which writers and artists were prominent, brought international attention back to Lukashenko’s governance, but the Belarus Free Theatre have been making work at home and abroad about oppression and censorship in the country for the last fifteen years. This month on Resonance 104.4fm, Juliet spoke to the Theatre’s co-founder Natalia Kaliada, in exile in London, and Svetlana Sugako, the Theatre’s co-manager in Minsk, about their work, the regime and the recent protests. Please note: this episode was recorded via Skype, with Svetlana in Belarus, so apologies for the occasional lapses in sound quality. A full list of references for the programme can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and is available to $3 subscribers – our theme music is 'Aus' by Fennesz.

Belarus has been in the spotlight for the past two months as protesters continue to battle Alexander Lukakshenka's 26-year-old regime. But dissent isn't new in the country. It's had a vibrant, if small, civil society and a cultural scene that's had to become resourceful, creative and resilient to navigate the state's repression. Natalia Kaliada and Dragana Kaurin join Susan and Greg to discuss underground theater and digital innovation.  

In Bielorussia le proteste contro il presidente Alexander Lukashenko, al potere dal 1994, vanno avanti da oltre un mese, senza perdere vigore. Abbiamo intervistato Natalia Kaliada, co-fondatrice e direttrice artistica del Belarus Free Theater, che ci ha raccontato la sua storia di repressione e resistenza artistica. Dopo l'annuncio dell'Accordo di Abramo da parte del presidente Trump, abbiamo chiesto quali siano state le reazioni del popolo palestinese a Yara Hawari, attivista e senior policy analyst del think tank Al Shabaka. Lotta al virus, migliori condizioni di lavoro e maggiore attenzione alla tutela dei diritti: sono alcuni dei punti toccati da Ursula Von der Leyen durante il suo discorso sullo Stato dell'Unione. Ne abbiamo parlato con Jacopo Barigazzi, senior repoter EU di POLITICO Europe.

In Bielorussia le proteste contro il presidente Alexander Lukashenko, al potere dal 1994, vanno avanti da oltre un mese, senza perdere vigore. Abbiamo intervistato Natalia Kaliada, co-fondatrice e direttrice artistica del Belarus Free Theater, che ci ha raccontato la sua storia di repressione e resistenza artistica. Dopo l'annuncio dell'Accordo di Abramo da parte del presidente Trump, abbiamo chiesto quali siano state le reazioni del popolo palestinese a Yara Hawari, attivista e senior policy analyst del think tank Al Shabaka. Lotta al virus, migliori condizioni di lavoro e maggiore attenzione alla tutela dei diritti: sono alcuni dei punti toccati da Ursula Von der Leyen durante il suo discorso sullo Stato dell'Unione. Ne abbiamo parlato con Jacopo Barigazzi, senior repoter EU di POLITICO Europe.

His people have turned against him in the streets but Belarus's dictator Alexander Lukashenko is still in power and his security forces are still following his orders. So where do the anti-Lukashenko activists go from here? Stephen Sackur speaks to Natalia Kaliada, one of the founders of the Belarus Free Theatre, an artist dissident in exile. Will Belarus's summer rebellion be blown away with the autumn leaves?

Lovecraft Country is a new 10-episode HBO series, based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, set in 1950s Jim Crow America. The story is about a young African American man whose search for his missing father begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and also terrifying monsters that could be pulled from the pages of horror fiction writer H.P Lovecraft’s weird tales. Writer and broadcaster Ekow Eshun reviews the series. We continue our interviews with the writers shortlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction. American author Jenny Offill discusses her acclaimed novel, Weather, about a female librarian struggling to cope with a domestic life haunted by the growing awareness of catastrophic climate change. National Prison Radio is run by a British prison-based charity, broadcasting programmes made by and for prisoners in over 100 prisons in the UK, and is the world's first national radio station of its kind. Next week they broadcast an ambitious radio drama – a 29 minute sci–fi adventure called Project Zed, conceived and produced by artist Ruth Beale, working with prisoners at HMP Lincoln. It was commissioned by Mansions of the Future - an arts and cultural hub in Lincoln City Centre. Samira is joined by Ruth and facilitator Sonia Rossington, who worked together with the prisoners to put the drama together. On Monday’s Front Row we heard from Natalia Kaliada, co-founder of the Belarus Free Theatre - the only company in Europe to be banned by their country’s government – who told us three of their members have been arrested in Minsk following the election. Their whereabouts and condition were unknown. Natalia returns to Front Row with an update. Main image: Jonathan majors as Atticus Freeman in Sky Atlantic's series Lovecraft Country Image credit: (c) Elizabeth Morris/2020 Home Box Office Inc Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Emma Wallace

Xiaolu Guo was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 2013. She talks about her latest book A Lover’s Discourse, which is a story of love and language – and the meaning of home set at the time of the European referendum. With a nod to Roland Barthes’ book of the same name, Guo’s novel is told through conversations between a Chinese woman newly arrived in the UK and her Anglo-German boyfriend. It is 100 years since Bernard Leach, with his Japanese colleague Hamada Shojie, established his pottery in St Ives. Since then his influence as a studio potter, making vessels that are both beautiful and functional, by hand, has spread around the globe. Roelof Uys, the lead potter at the studio today, discusses Leach's ideas and work, and the projects marking the centenary. Last night three members of the Belarus Free Theatre - Nadia Brodskaya, Sveta Sugako and Dasha Andreyanova - were arrested in Minsk, during protests against the results - widely believed to be fabricated - of the election there. Their colleagues in the company do not know where they are being held. We hear from Natalia Kaliada, one of the founding directors of the Belarus Free Theatre, the only theatre company in Europe banned by its government on political grounds. London's Donmar Warehouse is re-opening temporarily from 3 to 22 August with a socially-distanced sound installation, Blindness, which is based on the dystopian novel by Nobel prize-winning José Saramago, adapted by Simon Stephens and starring the voice of Juliet Stevenson. Susannah Clapp reviews. Main image above: Xiaolu Guo Image credit: Stephen Barker Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer Jerome Weatherald

The award-winning Belarus Free Theatre was founded 15 years ago to create drama around issues of human rights and creative freedom in a country which has been called Europe’s last surviving dictatorship. It creates provocative physical shows attended by audiences in secret locations around Minsk and has achieved international recognition and support. BFT’s founding artistic directors Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin cannot rehearse the actors face to face because they are now political refugees living in the United Kingdom. So, for the past nine years they have been using a Skype line to connect with the performers hundreds of miles away. Natalia and Nicolai have been rehearsing the actors in a new play called Dogs of Europe, based on the novel by the contemporary Belarusian author Alhierd Bacharevic, which depicts life in a dystopian super state where individual freedoms are taken away. As well as performing in Minsk, the actors were also set to come to London and perform at the Barbican Theatre. But Covid-19 has put an end to that plan. So what will the company do instead? The BBC’s Olga Smirnova follows Natalia and Nikolai during the process of rehearsal and performance and hears from them and the actors about the techniques of directing from a distance. She also talks to the British actor and writer Stephen Fry who is taking part in BFT’s newest venture.

In this episode, we meet artists and performers who are passionate about changing the world in this series, The Art of Change. Today, Chris Gunness heads into rehearsal with underground political theatre company, Belarus Free Theatre, to speak to Natalia Kaliada and Nikolai Khalezin to learn more about creating theatre in exile. Subscribe to Nothing Concrete on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stream podcast episodes on demand from www.bitesz.com (mobile friendly).TrusteesIn a major policy shift, the government has announced a moratorium on funding for performing arts organisations Australia-wide. The Trustees of Melbourne’s fictional Lone Pine Theatre Company gather to assess the damage—but what dark clouds might rise from the ashes?Amid the chatter and outrage and belligerence of public conversation lies a void: the Great Australian Silence. What are we afraid of hearing? Who are we afraid will say it? Political theatre outlaws Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin of Belarus Free Theatre have conceived an explosive new work with some extraordinary Australian performers: Tammy Anderson, Natasha Herbert, Niharika Senapati, Hazem Shammas, and Daniel Schlusser.Who is meant to have an opinion in modern Australia? Maybe it’s best you don’t answer that.For more information visit  https://malthousetheatre.com.au/whats-on/trustees Theatre First RSS feed:   https://feeds.megaphone.fm/ivetheatrereviews Subscribe, rate and review Theatre First at all good podcatcher apps, including Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes), Stitcher, Pocket Casts, audioBoom, CastBox.FM, Podbean etc.If you're enjoying Theatre First podcast, please share and tell your friends. Your support would be appreciated...thank you.#theatre #stage #reviews #melbourne #australia #trustees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Belarus Free Theatre has long been a monument to democracy and human rights—and the target of one of the world’s worst dictatorships. Cofounder Natalia Kaliada explains why, despite the persecution, the show goes on. (Published: October 23, 2017)

Belarus is Europe's last old-fashioned dictatorship - a country where political dissent gets you beaten up and locked up. Hardtalk speaks to one Belarussian who has refused to be cowed by President Lukashenko's iron fist. Natalia Kaliada co-founded the Belarus Free Theatre almost a decade ago. Directors, actors, even the audience have all faced arrest and imprisonment, but still their shows go on. Is drama an effective tool of resistance?(Photo: Natalia Kaliada)

"World leaders need to answer to artists." This was the rallying cry of Natalia Kaliada, artistic director of the Belarus Free Theatre, at a benefit for the embattled dissident troupe organized by the PEN American Center that was held at Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday. She added “politicians do not have steps; they have just words.” Belarus Free Theatre is the little theater company that could, and the media have been quick to pick up on its story. A few weeks ago the members of the company were either in jail or in hiding, the targets of a crackdown by Belarus’ government after recent election protests. Last week, they were in town for the Under the Radar festival at the Public Theater, but have used the trip as an opportunity to carry their battle into the public eye. The company spearheaded (not a lightly chosen verb) a protest rally at the U.N. Wednesday morning, and the PEN event was originally intended to celebrate the willingness of artists to join together to protest injustice, said Kaliada. But early that day, the group had received word, in the form of a terse text message, that the husband of one of the actors had been arrested. So it was a taut, tearful, and defiant face that they turned to an audience of supporters at Le Poisson Rouge’s cozy downstairs space. In times of trouble, we are counseled to find something to cheer about, noted Sir Tom Stoppard, the Czech-born playwright who hosted the evening’s event. For Stoppard, it was clearly the simple, unbelievable fact of the company’s existence. For the company, it may have been the warm support of the literary and theatrical community. For the event, put on at short notice (a more elaborate affair had been staged at The Public earlier in the week), resembled nothing so much as an old-fashioned jazz rent party, like the kind musicians used to put together when one of their number needed help meeting the bills.  In this case, the “session” started with some heartrending music by violinist and vocalist Iva Bittova, followed by readings of poems by imprisoned Belarussian poet Vladimir Neklyaev. Then, a scene from Stoppard’s disturbing “Cries From The Heart,” read by Billy Crudup and Margaret Colin, showed a government official training a lawyer in the delicate art of replacing all the words we recognize as dealing with torture, intimidation, cruelty, or repression with words for foods.  (“I want you to say,” taunts the chillingly reasonable official, “it’s not torture, it’s pizza.”)  Authors E.L. Doctorow and Don DeLillo read passages from books ("City of God," "Mao II") that touched on cruelty, war, or degradation. The evening concluded with a fierce performance by the Free Theater of the third part of a trilogy on life in Belarus called “Numbers.” Five actors moved through a rapid succession of scenes that enacted a range of damning statistics. The three cheerful men muttering hesitantly and throwing their arms up in confusion?  “70% of Belarussians have trouble expressing the idea of democracy.” The woman who gives birth to, and then pops, a balloon? The country has a high rate of abortion, stillbirths, and childhood diseases. The buckets full of empty shoes: “over 1,200 people vanish in Belarus each year.” As the demoralizing, often shocking, statistics succeeded one another on the video screen, the audience ought to have been left numb with despair on behalf of a country so defined by pain, loss, violence, and neglect. Instead, the performance—filled with a fierce energy and supple beauty—brought catharsis and epiphany, if the cheers and wild applause were anything to go by.  In Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” the work’s underlying nihilism is subverted by the sheer beauty of the language and the poignant souls of its characters. If you can write of the human condition, “Astride the grave and a difficult birth,” then you have already triumphed over death. In the case of the Belarus Free Theater, if your company’s brilliant work inspires others to stand for you and with you, in some sense no dictatorship can ever fully succeed. Click the link above to hear for selections from the benefit. (Unfortunately, much of “Numbers” was mimed and so is not featured here). Bon mots "We truly believe that the world leaders need to answer to artists...politicians do not have steps; they just have words."—Natalia Kaliada "If you believe in God's Judgement...then certain bacteria living in the anus of a particularly ancient hatchet fish at the bottom of the ocean are the recycled and fully sentient souls of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot."—E.L. Doctorow in "City of God." "I want you to say, it's not torture, it's pizza."—Tom Stoppard in "Cries from the Heart."