Belarus Free Theatre to present Being Harold Pinter in Chicago February 1–27

The Goodman Theatre announced this evening that, in cooperation with the League of Chicago Theatres and Northwestern University, it plans to present an engagement by the Belarus Free Theatre next month. Belarus Free Theatre has always walked a fine line in its home country; as described in a Guardian piece on the company last month, the draconian government of this eastern European dictatorship is swift to silence opposition, artistic or otherwise.

Things got markedly worse just days after that piece ran. As protests erupted over an apparently rigged election, two members of the theater were arrested, and the rest went into hiding. The New York Times detailed the stealth conditions under which the theater's members escaped Minsk for their scheduled engagement in New York at the Public Theater's Under the Radar festival, which closed yesterday. There they performed their piece Being Harold Pinter, which blends the late Nobel-laureate playwright's depictions of state-sanctioned oppression and violence with accounts from real-life Belarussian political prisoners. Reviewing for the Times, Ben Brantley called it "a work of harrowing intensity and commitment" that "has virtues beyond its relevance and bravery."

Now Belarus Free Theatre will present Being Harold Pinter in Chicago February 1–27, at a venue to be announced. "We found it imperative to extend this brave, bold theater company’s stay in the United States by offering them the opportunity to perform in Chicago,” Goodman artistic director Robert Falls said in a statement. “These are artists struggling against an oppressive state, and their work is both essential and powerful.” Presented in Russian and Belarussian with English supertitles, this is bound to be one of the most charged performances available to Chicago audiences this year. I'll announce ticket information when it becomes available.