Mikalai Khalezin: «Wearing Jeans in prison is next to impossible» :: Charter'97 :: News

On January 27 the results of the II international contest were summed up by the “Free Theatre”(free theater). 200 plays of modern playwrights from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Great Britain and Baltic countries competed. Traditionally, the Free Theatre happening was held secretly. The Free Theatre has not been legally registered but since the moment of its set- up in 2005 it has always had a full house. In its interview with Mikalai Khalezin, artist, journalist, head of the Free Theatre, the Radio Svoboda talked about the theatre but that was not the only topic of the interview.

“Without freedom the existence is senseless”

-- The word freedom”(svaboda) takes an important place in your everyday life-you manage Free Theatre, you actively participated in arranging the ”Marches of Freedom”, the name of the song chosen by you for this broadcasting is ”Belarus budze volnai”(Belarus will be free’)…What does freedom mean to you?

- Almost everything. Maybe only my daughters, my wife, my close relatives are not less important to me. Without freedom the existence is senseless. When I feel pressure- in my heart, my head, when someone pushes me against my back- then I am totally lost.

- Mikalai Khalezin was born in 1964 in Minsk. After finishing school he did military service then entered the Institute of National Economy but then suddenly changed his mind. Why?

-I realized that the only thing I wanted to deal with was creative work. In my “Jeans Generation” there is a scene when I say that I wanted to deal with creative work but couldn’t decide which in particular. The only thing I knew definitely, it was not either opera or folklore. And I couldn’t stand bookkeeping any more.

- And when did you feel a creative appeal?

-When at school. When I was 10-12 .My mummy used to make me like handicrafts and then I got interested and managed sewing, knitting, drawing, writing…

“I wanted to show that Belarusians are ardent people”

-You got engaged in festive decorations of the city? When did it happen?

-At the beginning of “perestroika.”

-How do the present and the- then city decorations differ?

-Then a greater choice was permitted. We could do a lot of simple things, which were nice, bright and they brightened up dull colors of the everyday life.

-If now you were allowed to decorate a city, Minsk, for instance, what would you personify?

- I had a certain project on my mind. The late Vasili Shugaley was also involved in it. It was the project of architecture projects festival. I wanted to fasten an extremely thick rope between the National Bank and GUM and hang huge jeans, huge socks and huge tea-shirt on it to let nobody think anymore that the Belarusian nation is small. I wanted to show that the Belarusians are powerful and ardent people.

“ I have found more. Sometimes even money”

- “What is the destiny of your play “I have come” – have the “MHAT” theater bought it?

Its destiny is very complicated but at the same time not accidental and, to my mind, unpredictable. First, it was Oleg Menshikov, who wanted to buy it but didn’t, because it was Oleg Tabakov, who interfered. Then there were two or three attempts to stage it at the “MHAT”. Then the directors were changed there twice or thrice. And then the contractual period for the play elapsed. And now to continue the play staging they have to make another agreement with me.

-Mikalai, but who was “he who had come” in the play?

A man. I am not sure that it was myself. But it was the man who was passing through seven rooms. In the first room he was met but the angel. In the other rooms there were his mother, father, daughter, wife, friend meeting him. And then it was the angel again. He was walking along that wavy road and then disappeared. He comes from nowhere and goes to nowhere. And the most important thing is what he was doing all the time in all those rooms.

-And have you, personally, found more than lost?

-Found more. Sometimes even money.

“I am sorry for Victor Manayeu”

-In 2005 Mikalai Khalezin set up the Free Theatre. Now it has been included into the international project under the auspices of Vatslav Gavel and Tom Stoppard .The Nobel Prize winner Herald Pinter transferred the copyright for all his plays to the theatre. Mikalai, please, tell us about your international contest and about this year winners.

-It is the second contest. 230 plays were applied for the first contest and now-251. 9 countries were represented at the first contest, now-12. The first contest winner was Russian playwright Vyacheslav Durnenkov and this time the first place was given to the “Underwear” play of the Belarusian playwright Pavel Rrazhko. Two Russian theaters are now competing for the play.

-Recently after two performances of the “Tuteishia”in the Kupalauski theatre actor Victor Manayeu criticized the public for their extremely emotional response. Mikhalai, does such wild response to the events on the stage mean success?

-I can only say that I am sorry for Victor Manayeu. What can he criticize if there is the national flag flying above the stage? The audience wants to manifest their emotions. They dream have coming to the theater and have expressing their emotions. But when the theatre is sleeping, when it can’t find any suitable word, when it is afraid of people’s emotional response to the national flag flying, there is nothing to add… It’s awful.

“Those who are looking for challenges will be the winners”

-- There is the Eighth Day Theatre in Poland (Poznan). The name of the theatre is interpreted by the actors in the following way: the eighth day is the day when God was extremely creative and among other things he invented the theatre. The Eighth Day Theatre was illegal under the communist regime and this Poznan’s theatre gave performances in the streets of European cities. Recently. The Eighth Day Theatre staged a play based on the reports of the secrete service about the actors of the theatre. What might be the subject of the performance about Free Theatre?

-Thank you for mentioning this theatre. In November the Eighth Day Theatre arranged the reading of the Belarusian plays. As far as your question is concerned, in my play the “Jeans Generation” I speak about the state of things in our country. We face the esthetic conflict between the authorities and people. People wish something new, fresh, European, they need air to breath but they are told ”no”, they are offered stagnation, agricultural arts. No, that won’t do. Young people can’t live having only the heap of hey in store for them. They are looking for something new, they are watching the art-house movies, reading the modern literature; they and the state authorities speak different languages. That is why those who are looking for challenges will be the winners in the conflict. There isn’t any other alternative.

-- Mikalai Khalezin prepares the “Jeans Generation” collection of modern drama for issuing. Mikhail. The jeans idea has been severely criticized in Belarus. Why do you support it?

-Because wearing jeans in prison is next to impossible: because their seams, buttons, rivets are not for lying on plank beds. Jeans are the clothes for young people, young not only in age but spiritually young, it is a mysterious symbol. When the jeans shirt flew above Kastrichnitskaya Square and when the youth got united under it and resisted the OMON forces, then the jeans had become a symbol.

“I believe in free Belarus”

- It happens, that people sometimes imagine that the theatre means a bohemian way of life. Mikalai, does Free Theatre live the bohemian life?

-No, we live a hard life. We have to work so hard that any bohemia subject is out of question. And generally no bohemia can exist without freedom. Where can we find the bohemia here if there isn’t even a single popular newspaper? It is a hard luck to be a creator in our country.

-- There is program “What I believe in” at the Radio Svaboda. Today, taking the chance of our talk, I would like to ask you: “What do you believe in?”

-I believe in free Belarus. I believe in well-being. I believe in family. I believe in my friends.