The People Woke Up

ice&fire present new Actors for Human Rights theatre piece

• A new script and production for theatre company ice&fire’s long-running Actors for Human Rights project, focusing on the 2020 election crisis in Belarus and its fallout

• A ‘political education project’ based on interviews and testimony of the Belarussian diaspora, including former political prisoners, presented as a rehearsed reading with four Belarusian actors. Award-winning poet Hanna Komar performs as herself

• The piece will premiere in Edinburgh with two performances, one at the Scottish Parliament on September 28th and the other at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh on September 29th, before being made available for touring around the UK

• ice&fire explore human rights stories through performance

‘The People Woke Up‘ is a new script from ice&fire’s long-running Actors for Human Rights project, focused on the 2020 election crisis in Belarus, its fallout and how its impacts are still felt today.

A partnership with The People’s Consulate of Belarus in Scotland, this new dramatic work tells the stories of people whose lives were changed forever in Belarus in 2020 following the rigged presidential election where Alexander Lukashenko further extended his 27 year reign.

Following the election, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians went out onto the streets to demonstrate and protest for justice and democracy. This resulted in the most widespread and violent crackdown in Lukashenko’s reign, with thousands of peaceful protestors arrested, tortured, and killed at the hands of the security forces.

Presented as a rehearsed reading with four Belarusian actors and comprised of first-hand testimony from the Belarusian diaspora across Europe, this new work tells the stories of some of the people who were caught up in these tumultuous events and the impacts that are still felt today.

A unique political education project, ‘The People Woke Up’ will premiere in Edinburgh with two performances: an abridged version at the Scottish Parliament on September 28th and a full version at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on September 29th, before being made available for touring around the UK. This project is supported by Creative Scotland.

Artistic Director of ice&fire, Christine Bacon, said: “While the protests across Belarus attracted the attention of the world in August 2020, the cameras have now moved on.

“However, the people of Belarus continue to resist and risk their freedom and their lives with the aim of removing the Lukashenko regime so a new nation can be built.

“With this new script, we invite audiences to listen to stories from the people at the heart of this struggle and ask themselves what they can do in solidarity with the people of Belarus.”

Irina McLean from The People’s Consulate of Belarus in Scotland said: “Sergey Tichanousky – 18 years of imprisonment. Aliaksandr Ivulin – 2 years of imprisonment. Maria Kolesnikova – 11 years of imprisonment. A vlogger. A sports journalist and footballer. A musician. Not criminals but citizens of THEIR country, who want it to be set free of pain, absurd autocracy and dictatorship.

“It is our pain. Every Belarusian feels it and this amazing opportunity to share it with others should help us to heal. This production will help us to tell our story. The story of our fight.”