Yesterday in Vilnius, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya attended the premiere of the theater production “Tikharі” based on a play by Sasha Filipenko, a contemporary Belarusian writer. The plot is based on the story of a Belarusian doctor who refused to provide treatment to a riot police officer in 2020 and is on trial for that 10 years later.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “It's hard to express the emotions that I felt as I attended the performance. I relived 2020 again. It was an exquisite work depicting criminals and victims, good and evil, truth and lies.
I was struck by how the terribly painful stories are combined with excellent humor in the production. I would like to separately mention the performances of the actors: Andryus Daryala, Maryna Zdarankova, Ilia Yasinski, Aleksandra Metalnikova, Siarhei Tolstsik, Nijolė Makutėnaitė, Aliaksandr Ratsko, Vitali Liavonau, and Aleksandr Filippenko – their acting was strong, precise, and sensitive. Your personal stories at the end of the play deserve another round of applause. I could not hold back tears when I heard the stories of the regime’s repression of our most talented representatives of culture. I am proud of each and every one of you, hats off to you.
I am grateful to Ukrainian director Sasha Denisova for the beautiful production, to Alexandra Lier for her producer's work, and, of course, to the Old Theatre of Vilnius for the support. I hope this play will appear in many theaters worldwide and definitely in a free Belarus”.
