‘We are not heroes. We are not victims. We are contemporary artists.’

Making theatre under the last dictatorship in Europe is a dangerous political act.
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Natalia Koliada speaking at ISPA 2016 

Artistic Director of the Belarus Free Theatre Natalia Koliada  was a keynote speaker at the International Society of Performing Arts Conference (ISPA) in Melbourne last week but she didn’t actually make it to Melbourne.

Koliada delivered her address by Skype from London because she could not obtain travel documents to come to Australia. Her movements are restricted, her father has been beaten up by the police and her husband, playwright Nikolai Khalezin, has been imprisoned: all because they make theatre.

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Deborah Stone
About the Author
Deborah Stone is a Melbourne journalist and communications professional. She is a former Editor of ArtsHub and a former Fairfax feature writer.