Digital Programme: Belarus Free Theatre: KS6: Small Forward

Co-Director / Original Play / Set Designer
Nicolai Khalezin is the co-founding Artistic Director of BFT, an award-winning director, playwright, designer, educator, political campaigner and journalist. Prior to co-founding BFT in 2005, Nicolai was Editor-in-Chief of three of the leading social-political weekly newspapers in Belarus – Name, News and Our Freedom – all of which were shut down by the regime. The journalistic approach to theatre-making that has characterised all of BFT’s stage productions over the past two decades owes much to his rigorous editorial method. Another significant influence on his theatrical vision is a deep love and knowledge of contemporary art. Nicolai was the owner of the only contemporary art gallery in Minsk, which was also closed down by the authorities. His works were exhibited at the Istanbul Biennale, Milan Expo, in Rome, Berlin and at the Moscow Centre of Contemporary Art. Nicolai served time in prison in Belarus for his involvement in political campaigns and was recognised as a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. This experience inspired one of BFT’s most celebrated shows, Generation Jeans, an autobiographical duologue about rock music and resistance. Written, directed and performed by Nicolai Khalezin, with live music by DJ Laurel, Generation Jeans has been performed more than 100 times around the world to date, including at the home of President Václav Havel on his invitation in 2008, and at the UK’s House of Commons together with BFT Trustee, Jude Law, in 2012. Forced into exile for his work as a political campaigner and as the co-founder of BFT – the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds – Nicolai was granted political asylum in the UK in 2011. Playwriting credits for BFT include King Stakh’s Wild Hunt, Dogs of Europe, Burning Doors, The Master had a Talking Sparrow, Discover Love, Trash Cuisine, Time of Women, all of which he also directed, and BFT’s adaptation of King Lear which was staged at the Globe to Globe Festival as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. BFT received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera in 2024 for King Stakh’s Wild Hunt, the company’s first-ever foray into opera. In June 2023, Nicolai was awarded the MBE for Services to Theatre in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Performer
Katsiaryna (Katya) Snytsina is a Belarusian basketball-player-turned-activist. Born into a family of basketball enthusiasts, she began playing aged seven and took up her first professional engagement aged 17 with the first division French club, COB Calais. Katya made her debut with the Belarusian national team in 2005, in a memorable game against Norway which saw her score four points in just 12 minutes. From 2007 to 2009, she played for the Polish team, Lotos. It was there that her career really began to flourish with a win in the Polish Cup and silver medal in the Polish Championships. In 2007, Katya and the Belarusian team took bronze in the European Championships and, the following year, she played with them again at the Olympic Games in Beijing, where they finished in sixth place. She rejoined the national team in 2011 for the European Championships; it wasn’t a triumphant season overall, but Katya excelled as top scorer. In the 2013/14 season she began playing for the Turkish team, Tarsus Belediyesi, before moving on to play in the French Championships with Basket Lattes Montpellier. The following season, she played briefly with DVTK in Hungary, before returning to Turkey to play for Hatay, where she won several titles. She spent, in total, four seasons with the club, winning two Presidential cups, and silver in the Turkish Championships in 2016, a first in the club’s history. The same year, she played for the national team in her second Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2020, now as captain of the national team, she spoke out against the Belarusian regime in the wake of internationally discredited elections and a systematic crackdown on all opposition. The following year she stepped down as captain and was forced to leave her homeland. In 2022, now living in London, she signed with London Lions and played two seasons with them before announcing her retirement in 2024. Her final season with the Stratford-based team was record-breaking – five trophies in total – including the EuroCup title, which made London Lions the first-ever British team to win a major European trophy. Katya retires from professional basketball as one of the top three scorers in the history of the women’s EuroCup. KS6: Small Forward is her professional theatre debut.

Performer (On-stage DJ); Composer and Sound Designer
DJ Blanka Barbara is a Polish-British musician, composer, DJ and electronic music producer. She currently lives in London, and is signed to the international deep house label, This Never Happened. DJ Mag described Blanka Barbara as a ‘future star with unique sensitivity’ and Magnetic Magazine included her in their ‘top 50 Producers and DJs to Watch’ in 2023. Her debut studio album, α, will be released in spring 2025. More recently, she has been releasing music through her own label, Untold. She has written music for several theatre shows, scored soundtracks to independent films, composed and staged two electro-acoustic operas. In February 2024, she released a brand-new house single, ‘Forgotten Pharaoh’, in collaboration with the Grammy Award-winning singer, Jinadu. The song was enthusiastically received by fans and peers in the industry and has subsequently made its way onto the top-rated BBC Radio 1 dance music charts. In October 2023, Blanka Barbara won First Prize in the Remix Competition organised by the Change the Beat initiative (formerly 23by23) in partnership with Native Instruments, Label Radar and the Australian House label, Club Sweat. Her club-friendly interpretation of Nala’s single, ‘Growth’, instantly caught the attention of the industry and fans alike, landing her remix on viral editorial playlists: ‘New Dance Beats’ on Spotify, ‘New in Dance’ on Apple Music and ‘Best New Tech House’ on Beatport. 

Performer (Interviewer, mascot, riot police)
Raman Shytsko studied at the Belarus State Academy of Arts, graduating with a degree in theatre and film acting, before joining BFT’s theatre laboratory, Fortinbras, the only independent arts school in Belarus. Stage credits for BFT include: Central Store, Onyx, Well-Being, Hansel and Gretel, A School for Fools, The Master had a Talking Sparrow, Dogs of Europe and King Stakh’s Wild Hunt, BFT’s Olivier Award-nominated opera, which opened at the Barbican Theatre in 2023, in which he played the role of Ryhor. Prior to leaving his homeland in winter 2021, Raman was arrested by the Belarusian authorities for his involvement with BFT and for campaigning on LGBTQ+ issues.

Performer (Mascot, riot police)
Darya Andreyanova graduated in 2013 with a specialism in directing for television and went on to work with Zhest, a TV channel for hearing-impaired audiences in Belarus. Between 2014 and 2018 she was an actor and film-maker with BFT in Minsk, co-authoring and producing the documentary films, Central Store and House No. 5. In 2018 she left BFT to join the Marina Razbezhkina School of Documentary Films in Moscow, before reuniting with the theatre troupe in 2021. She performed in King Stakh’s Wild Hunt, BFT’s Olivier Award-nominated opera, which opened at the Barbican Theatre in 2023. Darya was a Prisoner of War in Ukraine and prior to leaving her homeland in winter 2021, she was arrested by the Belarusian authorities.

Live feed camera
Mikalai Kuprych graduated from the Belarus State Academy of Arts in 2013, specialising as a camera operator. He worked as a photographer for the popular Belarusian magazines Bolshoi, Sapience, and Doberman, was a member of the Tour-de-France photo association, and was crowned Best Photographer in 2013 by the CIS. Mikalai has collaborated with BFT since 2014 and took up a permanent role as the company’s in-house photographer and documentary film director in 2018. He worked as Assistant Production Manager and Stage Manager on BFT’s Olivier Award-nominated opera, King Stakh’s Wild Hunt, at the Barbican Theatre in 2023. His documentary credits for BFT include: Taxidermy (2013), House No. 5 (2017), Central Store (2018) and The Okrestin Sisters (2020). Prior to leaving his homeland in winter 2021, Mikalai was arrested by the Belarusian authorities on several occasions and was the victim of hate crimes.