Belarus Free Theatre and Pussy Riot’s Masha Alyokhina bring stories of persecuted artists to UK

Burning Doors, a co-production by the Belarus Free Theatre and Pussy Riot’s Masha Alyokhina exploring what it means to be deprived of artistic freedom yet refuse to be silenced, will open next week in the UK.

The production draws on the real-life stories of three prominent artists and actionists who have suffered persecution at the hands of the Russian state, including Russian performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, incarcerated Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Alyokhina herself. Named after Pavlensky’s controversial 2015 performance, which saw the artist pour petrol on the doors of Russia’s infamous FSB headquarters in Moscow and set them ablaze, Burning Doors asks what it takes to survive as an artist suffering persecution and even labelled an enemy of the state.

Belarus Free Theatre is a Belarusian underground theatre group — the only theatre in Europe to be banned by its government on political grounds. Alyokhina, who was convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” in August 2012 after Pussy Riot’s performance at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, was sentenced to two years in prison but was later released in December 2013 under an amnesty bill.

Burning Doors opens on 23 August in Leicester and will be travelling to London, Dartington, Falmouth, Manchester and Portsmouth. More information can be found here.