Press releases

GOMEL, 16 May (BelTA) - The international festival Slavonic Theater Meetings kicked off in Gomel. The Gomel Regional Drama Theater opened the festival with the show Plague based on a play by Yakub Kolas, BelTA has learned.

“The Gomel Youth Theater was expected to open the event. Unfortunately, the plans changed. The show was canceled due to the illness of an actress,” spokesman for the Gomel Oblast Drama Theater Vladimir Stupinsky said.

The tragicomedy Plague was staged by young Gomel director Andrei Shidlovsky. Performed in Belarusian, the show touches upon human vices. “The Plaque is about a disease. It does not matter whether it is alcoholism, drug addiction, or smoking. It mainly focuses on human weaknesses,” the director remarked.

The international festival Slavonic Theater Meetings runs in Gomel on 16-19 May. Partaking in the event are Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish theaters. The Gomel festival gathered artists of the Chernigov Music and Drama Theater, the Novgorod Academic Theater (Veliky Novgorod, Russia), the Nicoli Theater (Krakov, Poland), the Stelitamak Theater (the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia), and the Belarusian State Youth Theater. The jury is comprised of prominent Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian theater professionals. In 2017 the forum’s motto is “Theater for the Future”. Special emphasis is placed on the plays by young writing teams, actors, directors, and artists along with the plays targeted at young audience. The forum’s program features seven performances.

First held in 1989, the festival Slavonic Theater Meetings derived from the commonwealth of major theaters of Chernigov, Gomel and Bryansk. Lately it has expanded by involving leading theaters of the neighboring states and other countries. The festival aims to unite theaters, strengthen traditions, promote new trends of the Belarusian theater art, and introduce viewers to the world and national art masterpieces.