Playwright: Vladimir Scherban after Harold Pinter. At: Belarus Free Theatre at Northwestern University ( Feb. 4-13 ) and Chicago Shakespeare Theater ( Feb. 18-20 ) Tickets: 1-847-491-7282 ( Northwestern ) ; 1-312-595-5600 ( Chicago Shakespeare ) ; $20. Runs through: Feb. 20
Since performance and religious ritual emerged together from the smoke of pre-history, theater has had the obligation to address social and political issues as art mirrors life. Sometimes this results in theater which is far more valuable as a statement than as a work of art, which is the case with Being Harold Pinter.
The Belarus Free Theatre was formed in 2005 in Minsk ( capital of Belarus ) in opposition to the police state government of this former Soviet republic. From its inception, the troupe has been subjected to government censorship, legal harassment and physical intimidation. Company members have been arrested and jailed on frivolous charges, been fired from jobs and have been forbidden to travel. Sometimes the company has had to perform in secret. The recent rigged re-election of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko led to street riots which were crushed, and severe repression of artistic freedom. With their personal safety at risk in Minsk, the Belarus Free Theatre has been embraced in the United States, with their month-long Chicago visit hosted by the Goodman and Chicago Shakespeare theaters, Northwestern University and the League of Chicago Theatres.
Being Harold Pinter is Belarus Free Theatre's signature work. It's a theater piece without any running characters with whom to connect, or a single arc of action to follow. The production uses simple and inexpensive techniques of presentation so the show can travel quickly and be performed almost anywhere: it requires only four chairs, a large plastic tarp, a few hand props and six actors in black suits.
It's built on excerpts from the plays and speeches of Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Prize winning British author. Pinter's plays of the 1960s-1980s are considered part of the Absurdist tradition and focus on destructive ( although often funny ) human relationships within domestic settings ( families, lovers, friends ) . From the mid-1980's onward, Pinter's work became highly political as he used the pen to expose the horrors of torture and repression in Eastern Europe and the Middle East ( which, in time, placed him in opposition to some American policies ) . Being Harold Pinter follows the trajectory of Pinter's work and thought, and interjects first-person accounts of brutality and imprisonment in Belarus that echo Pinter's work, as well as a reference to Abu Ghraib.
The end result is a fast-paced 75 minutes honed to physical perfection by a young company which has performed it for several years. It's impactful rather than beautiful, choosing to make a large statement in lieu of telling a story. Alas, the story of Being Harold Pinter isn't one of fictional characters; it's a real story happening to real people on a daily basis around the world, and it's made the Belarus Free Theatre an international cause celebre.