Dogs of Europe by Belarus Free Theatre
(Picture: Linda Nylind)This drifty, nightmarish vision of a future Russian superstate from Belarus Free Theatre has become more timely than the company could ever have feared. Adapted from a 900-page dystopian fantasy by Alhierd Bacharevic, it was first staged in Minsk in 2019, since when the book has been banned and the ensemble – which previously faced harassment, arrest, even torture – has been exiled by Alexander Lukashenko’s despotic regime. In the last two weeks, the cast and crew have lost family and friends to Vladimir Putin’s vicious attempt to reinstate a greater Russia, with Lukashenko’s help.
The show, devised by the company’s co-founders Nicolai Khalezin and Natalia Kaliada, is a mordant, visually stunning mood piece, more concerned with atmosphere than plot. The premise is that, after a conflict in 2019, Russia has expanded to consolidate Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Baltic states and many other countries into a sprawling, authoritarian new Reich. The collapsed EU has regrouped behind a vast border wall as the League of European States.
