Mark Ravenhill: “My highlight of 2008? Hooking up with the scary and unstoppable Free Theatre of Belarus”

One of the world’s leading playwrights Mark Ravenhill wrote an article dedicated to the Free Theatre in The Guardian.

The most incredible experience I had in 2008 was a visit to Minsk, the austere capital of Belarus. It was eye-opening, moving, salutary - and, as I prepare for 2009, I can't help thinking back to it. I was there as a guest of the Free Theatre, a company lauded across the world not only for their stunning performances, but also for their championing of human rights. At home, the company operate underground, leading the artistic resistance to President Lukashenko's regime, the last remaining dictatorship in Europe.

Wondering how the Free Theatre had fared since my spring visit, I recently phoned Natalia Koliada, the group's director. She sounded in high spirits. The company was in Prague, ex-Czech president Václav Havel having invited them there to perform their piece Generation Jeans, in which denim becomes a metaphor for freedom. They planned to film Havel that afternoon for a documentary. "We've travelled a lot in Europe this year," Natalia says. "We've met lots of people who tell us artists shouldn't be political. But we don't believe that. We believe artists are the moral conscience of their society." The group have now set themselves the challenge of interviewing artists all over the world who are involved in the struggle for democracy and human rights, for their first documentary film.

But the situation in Belarus, Natalia says, is not getting any better: "We had rigged elections in September, which weren't recognised internationally. Europe, though, is nervous about Russia after the problems in Georgia. So they've decided they need us as a buffer state. Sanctions against Belarus have been lifted and Lukashenko is free to travel in Europe, despite the recognition that he is a dictator. This means the regime has got a new confidence and it has had an immediate impact on the number of political prisoners. There's even more suppression of free speech."

Last spring, at the Soho Theatre in London, the company performed their piece Being Harold Pinter, in which extracts from his plays are used to create a portrait of life under oppressive regimes. At Tom Stoppard's suggestion, Natalia and the group read Pinter's work, paying particular attention to his later political plays and his impassioned Nobel prize speech. His writing chimed with their own experience of dictatorship and the struggle for human rights. It was thrilling to see how much these later plays, which in the UK hadn't always been as well regarded as the earlier ones, meant to the group. And the Nobel speech - mocked by some when Pinter delivered it - rang true and clear in Being Harold Pinter. Although he was clearly frail, Pinter came to the theatre that night to show his support.

One of the Free Theatre actors was refused leave from her day job with the state theatre, but came to the UK anyway. What, I wondered, happened to her? "She was fired when she got home," Natalia says.

The authorities in Belarus have said there are no new plays by native speakers. But last year, the Free Theatre actually printed a book of new Belarussian plays and distributed it free to every theatre and library in the country. "The book caused huge excitement," says Natalia, "particularly among young people." But in November, her father, who had helped prepare the book, was sacked from his university job. "The authorities told him that we were sick, corrupted people and that he should disown us. Of course, he would never do that and so now he has no job."

Despite these hardships, the Free Theatre are more determined than ever to press on with their work. Last year, they created two new shows and started an underground school in Belarus, to promote artistic resistance. The aim is to create a new generation of theatre-makers, people who combine the skills of actors, writers and directors. "We've found eight wonderful, brave young people," says Natalia. "We're training them in secret and are inviting theatre people from all over the world to teach. Mark, when will you come and run classes?"

Sometimes, the Free Theatre's projects seem recklessly ambitious. "We've realised this is an international struggle," says Natalia. "We're making links with playwrights and musicians in countries such as Zimbabwe, because we want to fight dictatorship everywhere." She laughs loudly. "Yes, we're a little crazy. But that's the only way to carry on. We didn't begin as a political group. We just wanted to put on plays. We started with your play, Some Explicit Polaroids, and Sarah Kane's play 4:48. The authorities banned them because they said homosexuality and mental illness don't exist in Belarus. This made us see that everything is political. Our children don't remember a time before Lukashenko, which is frightening. People tell us things will never change. We don't believe that."

I find Natalia's determination exciting, challenging, and even a little frightening. I'm sure Pinter would be delighted to see that his abhorrence of political hypocrisy, his championing of human rights and his bloody-minded determination lives on so brightly in the Free Theatre of Belarus.