‘The People Woke Up’ is a new script from ice&fire’s long-running Actors for Human Rights project, focussed on the 2020 election crisis in Belarus, its fallout and how its impacts are still felt today.
A partnership with The People’s Consulate of Belarus in Scotland, this new dramatic work tells the stories of people whose lives were changed forever in Belarus in 2020 following the rigged presidential election where Alexander Lukashenko further extended his 27 year reign. Following the election, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians went out onto the streets to demonstrate and protest for justice and democracy. This resulted in the most widespread and violent crackdown in Lukashenko’s reign, with thousands of peaceful protestors arrested, tortured, and killed at the hands of the security forces.
Presented as a rehearsed reading with four Belarusian actors and comprised of first-hand testimony from the Belarusian diaspora across Europe, this new work tells the stories of some of the people who were caught up in these tumultuous events and the impacts that are still felt today.
A unique political education project, ‘The People Woke Up’ will premiere in Edinburgh with two performances: an abridged version at the Scottish Parliament on September 28th and a full version at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on September 29th, before being made available for touring around the UK. This project is supported by Creative Scotland.
Artistic Director of ice&fire, Christine Bacon, has said:
While the protests across Belarus attracted the attention of the world in August 2020, the cameras have now moved on. However, the people of Belarus continue to resist and risk their freedom and their lives with the aim of removing the Lukashenko regime so a new nation can be built. With this new script, we invite audiences to listen to stories from the people at the heart of this struggle and ask themselves what they can do in solidarity with the people of Belarus.
Irina McLean from The People’s Consulate of Belarus in Scotland said:
Sergey Tichanousky – 18 years of imprisonment. Aliaksandr Ivulin – 2 years of imprisonment. Maria Kolesnikova – 11 years of imprisonment. A vlogger. A sports journalist and footballer. A musician. Not criminals but citizens of THEIR country, who want it to be set free of pain, absurd autocracy and dictatorship. It is our pain. Every Belarusian feels it and this amazing opportunity to share it with others should help us to heal. This production will help us to tell our story. The story of our fight.
The play is based on testimony of four Belarussian people affected by the 2020 events.
Hanna Komar (Poet) is an award-winning writer, translator, and activist from Belarus. She is currently based in the UK, where she has been studying for a MA in Creative Writing at the University of Westminster. She is an active member of English PEN’s sister centre, PEN Belarus, which was officially shut down by the Belarusian authorities in August 2021. Komar was appointed an Honorary Member of English PEN in November 2021. She was arrested while protesting in the aftermath of the elections and imprisoned for 9 days.
Galina Latypova has lived in Aberystwyth in Wales for 20 years. She works at the University of Aberystwyth as a plant breeding molecular biologist. She never thought much about politics in Belarus until she was there in 2019 and due to the pandemic, couldn’t leave. She saw the aftermath of the elections take place which included her beloved nephew Stepan Latypova, being arrested for protesting and who is now serving an 8 year sentence.
Dzmitry Furmanau was a member of the nomination group of presidential nominee Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in 2020. He was detained during an election picket in Hrodna on May 29 2020. Furmanau faced charges under Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order). On June 2, 2021, Judge Volha Bekushava of the Kastryčnicki District Court of Hrodna sentenced Dzmitry Furmanau to two years in a general-security penal colony. Furmanau was released on October 21, 2021.
Kira is a former political prisoner whose story has not been covered widely. She hasn’t spoken to the media about it before. She was arrested because of her activities as a volunteer supporting the families of political prisoners. She was held for 6 months, during which time she gave birth in a prison cell to a baby. She was not given any medical attention (despite having a disability due to a kidney condition). The baby was premature and stillborn.
The actors playing these characters are:
- Hanna Komar (herself)
- Mitya Savelau (Dzmitry)
- Victoria Milham (Galina)
- Nastasya Korablina (Kira)
Cast members Mitya Savelau and Nastasya Korablina have recently worked with Belarus Free Theatre, the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds. All cast members are from Belarus and their lives and those of their families have been profoundly affected by the events of 2020.