1. The Belarusian theatre, which works inside the country, is increasingly losing its distinctiveness and becoming a provincial appendage to the Russian space.
2. There are attempts to rewrite history and erase from it the names of creators disloyal to the government.
3. Russification of the domestic theatre continues. After the disappearance of "Znič" and due to the policy of Viera Palakova (the Belarusian State Academic Theatre for Young Spectators), there were only four collectives left in the country, working exclusively in Belarusian.
4. Belarusian theatre in the country is faced with staff shortage and pressure from the state, collectives abroad (with the exception of the Belarus Free Theatre) - with interrelated problems of management and financing.

The Belarusian theatre continues to remain in the Russian theatre space (both political and cultural), and therefore adopts the trends characteristic of this country.

After the beginning of Russian aggression, the names of choreographers, directors, and playwrights who did not support the actions of the Kremlin began to disappear from the websites of Russian theatres (for example, fashion writer Boris Akunin, outstanding choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, etc.). Belarus followed the path of Russia. For example, from the website of the Minsk Opera and Ballet Theatre — more precisely, from the pages dedicated to certain performances — the names of the dismissed artists began to be removed. We are talking about four conductors: Andrej Hałanaŭ, Viačasłaŭ Čarnucha-Volič, Ivan Kaściachin and Aleh Lasun. If one of these creators prepared the premieres, the rest of the production team (directors, artists, choirmasters, choreographers) stayed, but the conductors did not. There are attempts to rewrite theatre history and even erase references to disloyal creators.

It is sad that Čarnucha-Volič experienced repression not only in Belarus, but also in Ukraine. In April, the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre, in which the maestro was the chief conductor for the last four years and together with the team experienced the hardships of the war, broke the contract with him. The occasion was a photograph of the conductor with Yusif Eyvazov, the husband of the Russian diva Anna Netrebko who is under sanctions in Kiev. They met in Baku - the Belarusian came there to hold a performance at the invitation of the then management, but a day before his arrival, Eyvazov was appointed as the new director. The photo was enough to break the contract with the Belarusian. Although Eyvazov himself condemned the war.

But let's return to the Russian influence on our country. Thanks to the neighbouring country, the Belarusian state has finally solved one of the personnel problems that has been bothering the eye for several years: it formed the troupe of the state Kupałaŭski theatre. The issue was resolved elegantly: new actors were mostly invited from Russia. However, they started learning Belarusian when they moved to Minsk. Although, even among our compatriots who were taken to the theatre, there were those who had never worked in Belarusian on stage or knew it with a dictionary. Meanwhile, we are talking about the national team, the oldest in the country.

Certainly, learning our language is possible even for foreigners. Actors from Russia also worked in the Kupałaŭski Theatre during the Soviet era. But they had an incentive to learn the language, for them the theatre was home. And the currently recruited Russian students have no one to study with. Therefore, for them, the Kupałaŭski Theatre is a place of transit: to work and return home.
Russia's influence can be seen in other ways as well. In April, it became known that two Belarusian theatres — the Gorky Theatre in Minsk and the Puppet Theatre in Hrodna — will receive financial assistance from Russia. Each of the collectives (among others from the post-Soviet space) will receive 5 million Russian rubles (more than 120 thousand US dollars) for equipment, as well as 5 million for productions. This is a significant help in the conditions when the Belarusian state funds culture extremely poorly. But there are two circumstances. Ethical: aid comes from the aggressor country. And cultural: money, most likely, will be allocated to productions of Russian artists.

Sometimes, such a repertoire policy does not even need to receive additional funding. In January, the director of the Homieĺ Youth Theatre changed — the contract of Alena Mastavienka was not renewed. Dramatic changes in the repertoire soon began to be observed: in March, the theatre premiered the play "Autumn Boredom" by Nikolay Nekrasov. The production was called "How to kill one evening" and was performed under the auspices of the Russian House in Homieĺ. Earlier, this theatre staged performances based on the plays of the famous Irish playwright Martin McDonagh and his colleague from Germany, Marius von Mayenburg.

Russian influence does not end there. But in terms of the arrival of foreigners, there is almost no alternative to it: only a few come to us from Western Europe. One of the exceptions is the production group led by the Italian Aldo Tarabella, who will stage another version of "The Barber of Seville" in the summer of 2023 at the Opera and Ballet Theatre. But the rest ignore the theatre of our country.

That is why it is from the territory of our eastern neighbours that both performers and foreign groups come. In March, the "M.@rt.Kantakt" festival was held in Mahilioŭ. State media announced that the forum is returning in a full-scale format. Indeed, in the past the festival almost turned into a review of Belarusian bands, but last year it returned to the usual international programme. This year, its geography has doubled compared to 2022. Then Belarus and Russia were represented in the programme, now Bulgaria and Kazakhstan have joined them. But in reality, two Kazakh productions and one Bulgarian one were shown in Mahilioŭ. They didn't do the trick: Belarus (9 performances) and Russia (6) again occupied the lion's share of the programme, so the winners were chosen from among these countries.

By the way, "Pachupki" of the Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama won. This is a milestone work of the director Jaŭhien Karniah, which embodies the current era and our time. But the premiere took place at the beginning of 2022, and since then a performance of a similar level has not appeared in Belarus. This once again proves that with the current situation in the country, masterpieces or even successful performances appear more against the odds than thanks to the circumstances.

However, the Mahilioŭ forum still allowed to show some interesting productions from abroad. Compared to it, the announced "Victory" festival organized by the state Kupałaŭski Theatre (April-May 2023) looks extremely traditional. In its programme there are traditional plays about the Second World War, according to the direction, the declared goal is "patriotic education of citizens", which relegates the actual art to the background.

The idea of inviting guests from Moscow is also picked up by other teams. The reputation of the visitors does not matter. In March 2023, the play "The Game of Love" was staged in the capital's Musical Theatre. The director was Marat Basharov. He supported Russian aggression against Ukraine. Until now, he was known as a man who beat two wives at different times. The Metropolitan Opera House invited a "special guest" from Russia to one of the concerts — he was the musician Sergei Roldugin. He has a reputation as Russian President Vladimir Putin's wallet, helping him launder money.

Russians also feel free on the stage of the Belarusian State Academic Theatre for Young Spectators: almost all recent premieres were staged exclusively by Muscovites. This circumstance is a reason to talk in more detail about this theatre. Recently, it often performed at festivals, which is explained by the influence of its director Vera Palakova. For example, "M.@rt.Kontakt" opened with the performance "Karenina" of her private project "TriTeFormat", which is actually integrated into the system of the theatre. "Figaro", staged directly by this collective, was announced in the programme.
Palakova became the director a year ago, in April 2022. Even before her appointment, the theatre staged the play "Time chose them" based on the book series "Pioneers-Heroes". But all other performances of the theatre have been shown in Belarusian. Before her appearance, Palakova announced reducing the use of the Belarusian language in the theatre performances in her interview.

"We have two official languages in our country. Focusing only on the Belarusian language means losing part of the audience, guests of the city. After all, guests come to us, the same Russians who, unfortunately, do not know the Belarusian language. Why are we losing this viewer? We have the Kupałaŭski Theatre, which works only in Belarusian. The Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama (RTBD), which works only in the Belarusian language. <...>. This impoverishes us. I believe that performances should be in two languages: Belarusian and Russian. Then the theatre has a commercial history. <…> The state will always lend us a helping hand, but we should not be dependent on this vaccination. We have to learn to make money ourselves. It seems to me that we ourselves will be proud of this, that we will be able to earn money ourselves", said Palakova.
Words did not depart from action. The premiere of the next production, "The Canterville Ghost", performed after the appointment of a new director, was still held in Belarusian, but the poster was already in Russian. After the performance, there was a press show in Russian: "The Alps. Forty-first", based on Vasil Bykaŭ's "Alpine Ballad"; "Zhenya + Tanya = love" (based on Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin"), "Figaro", "The Queen of Spades", as well as the children's production "Hedgehog in the Mist" and the New Year's performance "Once Upon a Time in Sladkograd". Except for the last one, all of them were staged by directors from Moscow.

The number of Belarusian-speaking collectives decreased not only because of the Belarusian State Academic Theatre for Young Spectators. In September 2022, the authorities suspended the work of the Red Catholic Church — since the end of the 1990s, it became the venue for the Belarusian poetic theatre of one actor "Znič": a special hall was equipped there. Since then, no more performances have been held. Later, Viačasłaŭ Šakalida died — the only actor who was on the staff of the theatre. And in February 2023, the director and artistic director of "Znič" Halina Dziahileva was retired. The dismissal was not political: Dziahileva turned 76 this year. But there is not a single actor left in the state, the positions of director and artistic director are vacant. Since then, there is no information on the official page of the theatre.

In total, 29 professional theatres operate in Belarus. Only six of them worked exclusively in Belarusian until the beginning of the 2022/2023 season. Now that "Znič" has stopped working (quite possibly forever), and the Belarusian State Academic Theatre for Young Spectators is being russified before our eyes, there are only four of them left: the Kupałaŭski Theatre [official name - the Janka Kupała National Theatre], the RTBD, the Jakub Kołas National Theatre and the Belarusian theatre "Lalka" (the last two are in Viciebsk).

Meanwhile, repressions and dismissals from theatres (sometimes forced, sometimes voluntary) continue in Belarus, invisible to the outside eye. For example, Sviatłana Cimochina, the star of the troupe who shone in the high-grossing "Interviews with Witches", "Notes of a Young Doctor", and independent projects Ok16, was actually forced to resign from the Minsk Puppet Theatre. "Interviews with Witches" is not on the theatre flyer for the upcoming months. It is quite likely that this performance will not be shown again. Halina Ančyškina no longer works in the Homieĺ Youth Theatre — she also had to leave.

Sometimes the scale of layoffs and departures is visible only from a distance. As it was noted in an interview by the conductor Ivan Kaściachin, the National Opera Theatre lost a third of the ballet troupe. Let's add that as a result, endless entries of new artists have become commonplace. In this way, the general level of the troupe is reduced and traditions are broken. Now the repertoire is dominated by ballets staged in the 1970s and 1980s by the choreographer Valancin Jelizarjeŭ who has recently been editing them. But it is not always possible to transmit performances "from feet to feet" from those who danced in them to newcomers. As a result, the overall level is further reduced.

Personnel problems are also manifested through the obvious "directors' shortage" in the drama theatre. The list of potential directors has decreased significantly recently. Some have left, others can't direct because they're blacklisted, others don't want to as a matter of principle. Lack of personnel has led to searches even in amateur teams. For example, in April, the Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama premiered the play "Here I Come!" — a comedy of paradoxes based on the works of Daniil Kharms. At least from the middle of 2000s, Minsk professional theatres did not turn to this creator. And now it was specially translated for the production by Maryja Puškina.

As a director, the RTBD invited Alaksandr Barodka, a graduate of the capital's Academy of Arts, who works in Salihorsk (unfortunately, this large — for Belarus — city does not have a professional theatre). His debut turned out to be quite successful and decent, the performance looks professionally made. Another thing is that the premiere allows us to define other problems.

Redundancies in the RTBD, which have been taking place after 2020, have slightly eroded the backbone of the troupe and newcomers have begun to appear in it. The theatre performance "Here I come!" testified that Ludmiła Sidarkievič and Vieranika Busłajeva look the most confident in the women's ensemble — longtime stars of the troupe, their young colleagues only aspire to this level. On this occasion, we can recall the general, long-standing crisis in Belarusian theatre education: recent graduates often cannot create a worthy competition (even taking into account the inevitable lack of experience). And also note a certain imbalance in the level of the troupe, which directors who have been invited to the RTBD will face in the future.

Belarusian theatre abroad faces other difficulties. First of all, it encounters the interrelated problems of management and financing. This results in a minimal number of premieres. For example, this year, in 2023, none of the Belarusian foreign collectives (the Belarus Free Theatre, the Kupałaŭcy, Team Theatre and the Theatre of August, which exists in the structure of The Old Theatre of Vilnius) have yet produced new performances.

However, there were still premieres, only at other venues.

For example, the musician and director Palina Dabravolskaja staged the play "I will come out of the forest, pull out my spine, and it will serve me instead of a sword" in February at the Komuna Warszawa avant-garde theatre. In the same month, the actress Natalla Lavonava together with the children of the Vilnius theatre studio, released the performance "Dreams of Belarus", in which several professional actors were employed.

In March, the director Uładzimir Ušakoŭ staged the performance "Borscht" in Helsinki, and the director Jura Dzivakoŭ released the performance "rEvolution of the Hare" in Poland (this is part of the project of the artist Tania Dzivakova, which includes an exhibition, a master class and the actual performance).

In the last days of April, the Belarusian theatre "Kryly Halopa" and the Swedish ADAS-theatre showed a community project in Gothenburg — "Mama Zoja, Belarus", and Jura Dzivakoŭ produced the play "Bad Blood" in Warsaw's Powszechny theatre (Belarusian actors also take part in it).
A common problem inherent in a good part of these performances is a small number of performances. Since the beginning of the year, the Kupałaŭcy have performed offline only three times. In Lublin, during the performance of "Grandfathers" ["Dziady"] (in March), tickets for it were immediately sold out, which means that there is a demand for it and other productions of the collective. Team Theatre twice showed the production "How are you?" in April and once — "Heather honey". The performances of Dabravolskaja, Lavonava and Ušakoŭ mentioned above have been shown from one to three times so far. This is natural for their project status, but there is a lack of independent theatre productions, so we want to see them more often.

There are several exceptions. The Theatre of August is in a winning position: performances "The Third Shift" and "The Play That Didn't Happen" are shown several times a month. Tania and Jura Dzivakoŭ's project has already been presented in Poland's Sopat, Wroclaw and Bialystok, in June screenings are planned in Warsaw.

The Belarus Free Theatre bets on touring: in the spring, its play "Dogs of Europe" was successfully shown at the Adelaide International Festival, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, after London and Paris. This trip is a great organizational and managerial success of the team leader Mikałaj Chalezin. By the way, the team went from Australia to Berlin for the shows. Such resonance allowed the team to confidently look to the future and announce the autumn premiere of the opera "The Wild Hunt of King Stakh", which will take place in London.

Among the foreign tours, we should mention the trip to France for the project "1.8", which was staged in 2021 in Warsaw's New Warlikowski Theatre with the participation of Belarusian actors Pavieł Haradnicki, Palina Dabravolskaja, Ihar Šuhalejeŭ and Aleh Harbuz. Last year, his tour took place in Prague, this year in France, and a new trip to the latter country is planned for autumn.

The national theatre continues to face increasing pressure from the authorities. Total russification, mass dismissals, one-sided focus on the eastern neighbour lead to the fact that in this sphere it becomes an appendage of Russia. But the focus is not on the best traditions, accumulated during the years of relative pre-war "freedom" and a certain autonomy of the Russian theatre from its authorities. Forced integration takes place in a provincial way.

Abroad, Belarusian theatre faces the consequences of the fact that most of its representatives previously ignored the latest cultural processes and trends (both artistically and managerially). Now they are forced to use the express method to master what is an integral part of the European cultural policy. The success of this process will depend on their prospects in the near future in emigration, and in the global future (upon return) — on the possibility of restructuring the domestic Belarusian theatre kitchen and its transition to new tracks.