Powerful Performance About Protests In Belarus Shown In Warsaw

“Chryścina’s Sea” tells about ordinary Belarusians who challenged the regime.

In Warsaw, the play “Chryścina’s Sea”, dedicated to the first days of protests in Belarus, was shown.

The performance was shown on June 4 at the TR Warszawa theater. The Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian and Polish languages sound in the play. The performance was presented by the team of the Belarusian Team Theatre.

“Today, when Ukraine has been engulfed in a war that kills thousands of people for more than a year, we must not forget about another “quiet” war in Belarus, which has been going on for the third year now.

About the war of dictator Lukashenka with his own people.

The new Belarusian play “Chryścina’s Sea” tells about the first days of the protests in Belarus in 2020, which started this war.

The characters of the play, who spoke out against the stolen elections, and ended up in jail, face a brutal conflict with the law-enforcers, the servants of the dictator. The characters go through terrible tortures, while for policemen this was a normal working day.

The day on which the Belarusian society was split in two by a deep abyss,” the actors themselves say about the performance.

The cast of the performance is Ihar and Valeryja Sihou, Aliaksei Saprykin, Mikalai Stonka, Ulad Fedukovich, Maksim Shyshko, Darya Novik, Maryja Piatrovich, Andrei Bardukhaeu-Arol. Director — Andrei Novik, playwright — Siarhei Hiryt.

“Chryścina’s Sea” is a very honest performance about the events of August 2020 in Belarus. In my opinion, this is the most powerful theatrical production about this terrible time. You seem to be transported to the Akrestsin street prison, go through torture and beatings, hear the screams of the guards, their monstrous and cynical conversations. You experience pain, humiliation, you suffocate in an overflowing cell from bleach, there is blood everywhere ... But you know that everything is not in vain, that freedom needs to be defended and your taking to the street was inevitable, because it was impossible to continue living like that.

It's hard to watch, but necessary. And you have to show it to the world. So that everyone understands,” wrote Natallia Radzina, Editor-in-Chief of the website Charter97.org, after the premiere of the performance.

“I expected exactly such a performance. Be honest before your kin, so that strangers understand.

Oddly enough, fresh tragedies are quite easy to make spectacles of. There is so much terrible material and such intensity that you can design it a little — and the product is ready for “crying and sympathizing”. It's like expressing “deep concern”.

But being like a penetrating wound — this requires sincerity and pain of experiences, and not punching.

“Chryścina’s Sea” staged by the Belarusian Team Theater on the stage of the Warsaw TR Theater is the first artistic interpretation of the events of 2020 that I accepted. I'm only talking about my perception.

And after the performance I found out that it was staged in 10 (!) rehearsals, without a budget at all, without salaries for the international team, on a volunteer basis.

It was called a reading, but this is a ready-made full-fledged performance.

I don’t dare (after all, I’m not a critic) to talk about acting and highlight the names — you just memorize them all at once, everyone. And remember...

They are all amazing, their director, and their lyricist.

The enthusiasm of the volunteer theater is, of course, worthy of respect and admiration, but this performance and this theater should be seen in other countries, especially those who can put up at least some kind of barrier to evil. We can help make this happen.

Support the theatre, help them to make their voices heard!” wrote leader of the European Belarus civil campaign Andrei Sannikov.

You can support the Team Theater here.