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Dogs of Europe

Belarus Free Theatre

From one of the world’s bravest theatre companies comes a visceral, psychological drama set in the near future, depicting a dystopian super-state in which individual rights have given way to control.

In 2049, a murder investigation sets a man on a quest, his search bringing him to former Belarus and Russia, now a European territory ruled by a secret service. But his journey becomes less about the regime’s origins, more a revelation about his own role in its creation. Based on a novel by Alhierd Bacharevic – now banned in Belarus - Dogs of Europe is an epic fantasy and political thriller about the dangers of looking away when authoritarianism takes root.

Exiled from their native country, the co-founders of Belarus Free Theatre are political refugees who make work, renowned for its physical theatrical style, that plays to courageous audiences in secret locations across Minsk and around the world. Having lived in democracies and a dictatorship, this show is especially prescient.

3 hours, including an interval
Age guidance 16+ (contains strong violence, nudity and sexual content. More Information)

Performed in Belarusian with English surtitles

Fri 11 Mar, 6pm
Stand With Belarus: In Conversation
Join Belarus Free Theatre’s co-founding Artistic Directors, Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin for an in-conversation event chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.

Dogs of Europe is presented and co-commissioned by the Barbican and Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. It has been produced by Belarus Free Theatre with support from Arts Council England, the Goethe-Institut, Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, and The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, Ihnatowicz Foundation, Backstage Trust, Gregory James, Sir Simon Robertson and Steve Marmion.

Reviews

‘Hard-hitting, essential and furious, Belarus Free Theatre keeps political theatre alive and kicking‘
Guardian
‘Art matters. And it's hard to think of a theatre company that has proved that more than Belarus Free Theatre‘
Huffington Post

Discover

A group of people dressed in black sit in a decaying building holding books that burn in their hands.

Listen: The Art of Change – Belarus Free Theatre

Head into the rehearsal room and learn more about creating theatre in exile with co-director Natalia Kaliada and director, set designer and dramaturge Nikolai Khalezin

£5 Young Barbican exhibition tickets

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Barbican Theatre