Member of Pussy Riot to appear in Leicester

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Maria Alyokhina, a member of the Russian group Pussy Riot, is to appear in a play in Leicester next month.

The Belarus Free Theatre is to give Burning Doors its world premiere at the Curve on 23 August. It will run until 27 August.

You can read about the play on the Journeys Festival site:

Belarus Free Theatre is the foremost refugee-led theatre company in the UK and its founding member, co-Artistic Directors, Nicolai Khalezin and Natalia Kaliada, together with Associate Director Vladimir Shcherban were forced to leave Belarus due to political persecution. 

They are now political refugees in the UK. Belarus Free Theatre is the first and only theatre company in Europe to be banned by its own government on political grounds.  ​ 

Created in partnership with Journeys Festival International, Belarus Free Theatre in collaboration with Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina, are creating Burning Doors, continuing their campaign to stand up for artistic freedom and human rights across the globe and to prove, once again, that theatre can be a revolutionary art. 

Burning Doors takes its name from the actions of Russian actionist and performance artist Petr Pavlensky, who in November 2015 set fire to the doors of the former KGB headquarters. 

The play explores the persecution of three artists, including Pavlensky, and the personal experiences of cast member, Maria Alyokhina (Pussy Riot). The third artist Oleg Stensov, is an award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker currently imprisoned on charge of terrorist offences in Crimea.

Nikolai Foster, artistic director at the Curve, told the Leicester Mercury

"We are honoured to be hosting Belarus Free Theatre at Curve and the UK premiere of Burning Doors. 

"All of us at Curve have nothing but the greatest respect for the work Belarus Free Theatre are doing, and we are proud to support them in their latest trail-blazing, boundary-busting and iconoclastic work."