A R T E L
Video of Full Length Reading by ARTEL & Friends
@ Maketank in Exeter on 19 September 2020 (just 10 days after the play was written!)
In solidarity with the people and theater community of Belarus, Exeter’s contemporary performance incubator, Maketank presented a semi-staged reading of Kureichik’s play in translation by John Freedman. This was an extremely fast and dirty reading. Organised, conceived and performed by ARTEL and a cast of local Devon performers, including students from the University of Exeter. We read through the play at 1:30, stumbled through some blocking for camera, and broadcast live at 6pm. With special thanks to Philip Kingslan John for Britishizing the script and for the introduction of "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "The Partisan", and to Alexander Warn for the cinematography and essential stage managing.
Additionally, Maketank hosted a reading of the play by an all-female cast of young theatre makers on 3 November 2020 and a Q&A with this creative team, the playwright Andrei Kureichik and the English translator and organiser of the worldwide reading project, John Freedman on 6 November 2020.
Additionally, we built an installation in the store front windows of Maketank which ran from 22 October -5 November 2020. The sign says: "General Elections. Place your ballot in the requisite box. This vote determines our nation as: - Citizen Horses - A country for life", and the ballot boxes below say "Horses" and "for Life" respectively. One screen was an edited version of the ARTEL reading with speakers on the street for passersby to hear, and the other screen had images of protests in Belarus, information about the election and subsequent protests, as well as about the play "Insulted. Belarus(sia)" and images from various worldwide readings.
