Eternal Song

Kunstakademie

Company
The Minsk Academy of the Arts has a drama school boasting one of the richest traditions in Belarus. As with every performing arts college, the various year groups and disciplines (here the puppetry department) develop studio productions which are also performed outside of the academic framework.

Performance
The Eternal Song by Yanka Kupala (1882-1942), dating back to 1908, is celebrated as a national poem and is also one of the most symbolic texts of White Russian literature: a human life from birth to death becomes an allegory for the tragic existence of a nation. While searching for Arcadia, you wind up in old amunition boxes, in a miniature theatre of puppets and objects surrounded by the sounds of a scratchy, crackling radio broadcast, of Belarusian songs, speeches by Lukashenko and all manner of human rights declarations. Yet time seems to stand still here; life seems to have barely changed in the centuries gone by. Due to its criticism of the current political situation in Belarus, the premiere was prohibited on several occasions.

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Concept: Alexei Leliavski, Alexander Vakhramejev
Artisitc Directors: Alexei Leliavski, Irina Yurjeva
Performers, Direction: Svetlana Ben, Alexei Donin, Igor Kazakov,
Alexandra Patsey
When: Sun., June 13th, 9 p.m. and Mon., June 14th, 8 p.m.
Where: T-Werk
Duration: 50 Minuten