How come Australian producers of Sydney Festival – the most prestigious in Australia – chose Belarus Free Theatre?
Natalia Koliada: This happened during our unbelievably successful tour to England. We received a call during the tour, they took and interview, studied out portfolio and reviews of the British press and invited us to participate in Sydney Festival. Australian producers carefully follow the leading theatre collectives and try to get them to their festivals, which are a great number here. The most prestigious ones are Sydney Arts Festival, Melbourne Festival and theatre festivals in Adelaide and Perth which have been existing for over half a century. – But, as far as is known, you performed not only at Sydney Festival? – Yes, we also performed in Penrith and Brisbane – at theatre venues associated with Sydney Festival. Curious, that before our departure from Sydney to Brisbane, the producers told us guiltily that “audience there is tougher and probably the shows won’t be such a success there as in Sydney”. Actually they were preparing us to a “rather cold reception”. By the day of our ar
