Language question and double standards: Director of RTBD responded to claims to Russian-language performances

Claims to productions in Russian at the Theatre of Belarusian Drama are often written in Russian. in Russian and coordinated from abroad. Director of the Theater of Belarusian Drama Svetlana Naumenko on the program “Markov”. Nothing personal" on ONT revealed the behind-the-scenes language disputes, called the criticism a manifestation of double standards and reminded that the staff of the theater is completely bilingual.

Svetlana Naumenko: At least five performances were held at the Belarusian Drama Theatre in Russian – they were successful, they had successful tours in the far abroad (the same Israel), in the near abroad. And most importantly, the audience came to our home hall and watched them too. So it's not new. Secondly, what is it? They say, "Naumenko came and that's it." Yes, Naumenko is here. But for the Theatre of Belarusian Drama, it is probably no secret for anyone – neither for the authors themselves nor for those who are interested in the theater – that the vast majority of plays are brought to us in Russian. We have a Belarusian Drama Center. The authors are Belarusian, but write in Russian. We often translate them into Belarusian for screenings and readings. That's the second story. Third, people also speak Russian. We have two official languages. And often, you know, it comes to the ridiculous – we read straight sometimes in the theater: claims about why we stage performances in Russian, we write in Russian

Svetlana Naumenko also pointed to another important aspect, noting that the theater clearly see who writes negative comments and from where. In her opinion, if the same productions on Pushkin or any other author were created exclusively in Polish or Lithuanian, such claims would not arise. This allows us to conclude that the point is not in the language issue itself, but in the purposeful rejection of the Russian language, which is a manifestation of double standards. At the same time, she stressed that the theater troupe is equally successful in two languages.

In conclusion, the head of the theater noted that for more than forty years of work in Belarusian-speaking theaters, she mastered the Belarusian language much better than those who write pasquili to her. The speaker added that she sincerely loves her native language, is a citizen of Belarus and considers this language to be her own to the same extent as everyone else, so she sees no reason why the theater should somehow infringe on its creative choice.