Courtney Brechemin and Randall Wulff (Photo by Paul M. Rubenstein)
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
City Garage
Through Dec. 17
RECOMMENDED
It is tempting to see the English-language premiere of Insulted. Belarus at City Garage through the lens of a serious authoritarian threat in America. Indeed, City Garage’s press release makes the point that the horrors of the crackdown by Belarus’s dictator on its own people in 2020 “used to be unimaginable in the United States. Frighteningly, that’s no longer the case.”
And yes, lessons can be learned in this country from what happened in Belarus. In fact, it would be a disservice to the play and the people of Belarus to take a strictly provincial view of the events that came achingly close to the overthrow of the longest-standing dictator in the world today.
It’s likely safe to say that most Americans are, at best, vaguely familiar with the Belarusian election of August 2020 that almost resulted in the overthrow of the oppressive regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Despite blatant vote-rigging, Lukashenko’s opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, won the election. But Lukashenko’s violent crackdown on mass protesters — who were thrown into prison, beaten, raped and silenced — kept his regime alive.
Andrei Kureichik’s play, written in the summer of 2020 and translated by John Freedman, was presented as readings around the globe three years ago, including at Rogue Machine in Los Angeles. Since then, Insulted. Belarus has been presented worldwide more than 250 times as readings, productions, films, videos, radio broadcasts and installations.
The dramatic work features seven actors with “generic” names — such as “Oldster, the Moustache Man,” who is clearly Lukashenko (a startlingly lookalike Randall Wulff), and “Novice, a candidate,” who is obviously Tsikhanouskaya (Angela Beyer). Other characters, such as “Raptor, a storm trooper,” and “Corpse, a protester,” may or may not be based on real-life people but serve important dramatic functions in the play.
Through a series of mostly monologues by each character, we get a vivid picture of the events leading up to and including the election and the horrific fallout from Lukashenko’s desperate — and merciless — campaign to retain power. On an effective, geometrically designed set (Charles A Duncombe), director Frederique Michel keeps the action flowing smoothly, and she unflinchingly serves up violence onstage. Images projected on a rear screen — including actual photos of Belarusian protesters and live video of various actors onstage — add a valuable element to the production.
The cast members give solid performances. However, it was slightly distracting that some of the actors drifted in and out of Belarusian accents (for example, Juliet Morrison as “Mentor, teacher” sometimes sounded vaguely Irish or Scottish and other times Eastern European) while others sounded completely American.
Having said that, Morrison gives a strong performance in one of the most intriguing roles as a school principal who is completely unapologetic about her manipulating vote counts at her precinct. “The people want stability. And what is stability? The boss.” And yet, when her daughter and nephew disappear during the violent crackdown on protesters, she changes her tune as she desperately seeks answers to the fate of her loved ones.
To borrow from Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman (though the context is much different): “Attention must be paid.” Thankfully, much attention has been paid to Insulted. Belarus. And that is as it should be.
City Garage, 2525 Michigan Ave. Building T1, Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 4 pm; thru Dec. 17. www.citygarage.org . Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
