Download A festival of stage readings of dramatic texts by

by.BY
A festival of stage readings of dramatic texts by contemporary Belarusian writers.
Aim of the Project
The title of the project is a word play referring to the authorship ("by") of Belarusian
dramatists ("BY" is the international vehicle registration code of Belarus). Belarusian drama is
virtually unknown to the Czech audience. The aim of this project is thus to present the best of the
contemporary Belarusian dramatic works.
The project emphasizes current topics within the context of Belarusian drama (with one
exception, all writers are living authors, and all plays were written at the turn of the millennium)
and also attractiveness for the Czech audience as regards staging of new interesting topics or
issues typical of contemporary Belarus as well as the Czech social climate where political topics
resonate with the recent past and intimate topics speak about the human condition in the
postmodern era in general. The festival thus has a potential to attract a wide scope of audiences.
It purposively avoids authors kindred with Lukashenko's regime and this way it assumes the role
of becoming a platform for a mobility of writers who are, if not immediately persecuted, at least
restricted by the regime and for staging of plays which are not produced in Belarus for various,
mainly political, reasons. All plays will be staged in Czech for the first time and in the first Czech
translation.
The festival will try to bring some of the writers to the Czech Republic, thus significantly
contributing to vitalizing the cultural relationship between the two countries.
The readings will be staged from April to December 2012. They will take place once a month in a
site-specific environment: productions will take place in selected non-theatrical spaces around
Brno which specifically resonate with topics of the particular dramatic texts and amplify their
central ideas. Until last year, there was no continuous cycle of stage reading of original dramatic
texts in Brno. As positive response to the first year of the festival YOUGO! by the Feste Theatre
showed, audience in Brno welcomes this kind of theatrical activity and is willing to support it.
The festival "by.BY" materializes a long-term goal of the Feste Theatre to establish a
tradition of a systematic exploration of international dramatists and their work in the region of
South Moravia, as well as to rediscover and reuse untraditional and forgotten places in the centre
of Brno. It addresses directors and actors from Brno and its surroundings from across the
theatrical spectrum (professionals and students) to participate on the project. Exact locations and
dates of particular stage readings will be announced in March 2012.
Amnesty International is one of the festival partners. It will be take patronage over the
festival off-programme focusing on the topic of respecting human rights in Belarus. The festival
will thus also offer topical exhibitions, lectures and a year-long campaign for the release of the
prisoner of consciousness Ales Bialacki of the VIASNA organization, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Dramaturgy of the by.BY festival
The selection is varied and it covers political, general social, and intimate topics. It does
not centre on one style or expression but it includes a wide rage of dramatic and theatrical means.
Source language is another important dramaturgical element of the festival. Belarus as a
country with two main languages, Belarusian and Russian, produces literature in both languages.
The festival will present writers from both language camps. It will give more space to authors
writing in Belarusian for the primary reason that authors writing in Russian have more
opportunities for translation into other languages. This way, the festival becomes an exporter of
works in Belarusian and as such, it fulfils an important social role.
The key for the order goes from politics (as an expected topic) to intimacy (a general topic).
The aim is to connect some of the stage readings with their author's visit and a presentation on a
certain topical aspect of the particular play. For example, a staging of a play written in Russian is a
good topic for a lecture on the importance of language in a fight for freedom and national identity
in the era of globalization; on a similar note, alternative texts initiate a debate about current
trends in the world theatre.
There are three Belarusians participating on the festival dramaturgy: Sjarhej
Smatrychenka, translator, Czech studies scholar, and editor, Anastasia Dodu, photographer and
translator, and Vital Voranau, translator, literary scholar, and writer.
Selected texts:
1. Sjarhej Kavalyov – The Return of a Hunger Artist (Belarusian)
2. Nikolai Chalezin – Conceiving Love (Russian)
3. Uladzimir Saulich – A Dog with a Golden Tooth (Belarusian)
4. Pavel Prjazhko – Panties (Russian)
5. Ales Astashonak – Short Dramatic Texts (Belarusian)
6. Ihar Sidaruk – Head (Belarusian)
Photos by Jakub Jíra,
YOUGO, 2011.