Production still for Amsterdam season of "Generation Jeans". L-R: Lavr Berzhanin, Nicolai Khalezin. Photographer: Jan Boeve
Generation Jeans
09 August 2018 – 18 August 2019 Beckett Theatre
Malthouse Theatre, Belarus Free Theatre, Monash University Academy of Performing Arts,
Theatre International
Belarus Free Theatre is a theatre company in exile. Founders Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, are 'enemies of the state' in Belarus. Receiving asylum in the UK, they continue to create theatre and art around the world. Known for physicality and intensity, they remain focussed on the importance of action against injustice.
In 2018, Nicolai and Natalia bring two powerfully political works to the Malthouse Theatre: Generation Jeans and Trustees.
During the reign of the Soviet Union, Belarusians were prohibited from wearing jeans or listening to rock music. Two decades after the Union’s collapse, buying or selling these rare tokens of the ‘free world’ can still get you arrested.
Nicolai Khalezin gives a candid account of his own experience of incarceration and young love, illustrating how denim became a symbol of freedom under repression. With a soundtrack by DJ Laurel, Generation Jeans is a vivid insight into modern life in Europe’s last dictatorship.
"A BITTERSWEET, HEARTWARMING COMING OF AGE STORY LACED WITH HUMOUR AND IRONY."
— American Theatre
Cast
Creatives
Playwright
Translator
Stage Manager
Disc Jockey
Acknowledgements
A Malthouse Theatre and Monash University Academy of Performing Arts production.
Production Program
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