As its title would suggest, Belarus Free Theatre’s production of Generation Jeans at the Davis Performing Arts Center puts all varieties of denim pants at the center of its story: flared, faded jeans with the proper amount of give; tighter, straight-legged jeans accompanied by a bright orange belt; and baggy dark blue jeans. In Belarusian freedom fighter Nikolai Khalezin’s mind, there is nothing better than a pair of blue jeans, worn in with lighter patches at the knees. To him, there is nothing more emblematic of freedom than those jeans.
Introduced by Derek Goldman, the Artistic Director at the Davis Preforming Arts Center, as the embodiment of the international and contemporary work that Georgetown would like to attract to its theatre program, Generation Jeans resonates strongly. The passionate two night program, which included Discover Love by the same theatre company, brings activism together with good theatre.
Khalezin’s one-man performance mixes informal, joking conversation with the serious, riveting story of his life as a Belarusian freedom fighter. Khalezin is masterfully compelling in both roles.
The intensely intimate survey of Khalezin’s life under “Europe’s last dictatorship”—as the group refers to Belarus—touches on his life as a jeans bootlegger, plastic bag salesmen, circus hand hopeful, and freedom fighter.
Khalezin’s performance is matter-of-fact and touched with the sadness of his years of experience, particularly when discussing his time in prison. He makes you feel his claustrophobia from being put into a cell, his exhilaration from being able to protest, calling out “I am free!” and his anguish from being separated from his family while imprisoned.
Set on a dark stage, backed by a large DJ table, and the English translation of his words projected in subtitles. Khalezin moves through the various settings of his life, equipped only with a multi-purpose stool. The stool stands in for many things over the course of the play: a simple chair, a seat for uncomfortable questioning in a hotel room, an armrest in the back of a cramped van in which prisoners are transported to and from various holding cells. The simplicity of setting lets Khalezin’s own simple story hold all attention.
Caught up in his experience, Khalezin’s face loses his initial suave attitude, replete with a knowing smile and dark sunglasses. The gravity of his experiences comes to bear on his face: the glasses come off as he lets down his barriers, and tears fall as he recalls his past.
DJ Laurel’s beats set the tone for Khalezin’s piece, using an array survey of tranquil piano music, romantic jazz, and familiar classic rock musical phrases. The emotionally charged soundtrack matches Khalezin’s own story perfectly as it flows along.
Moving along at a brisk pace through his complex narrative, almost too rapidly for the English supertitles above, Khalezin’s poignant tale is cause for introspection. Just as Khalezin compares his own experience as a comfortable kindergartner in Minsk to the story of Czech student Jan Palach’s inspiring demonstration for a free state in Prague in 1968, the seats at the Devine Studio Theatre seem a bit too comfortable compared to Khalezin’s multipurpose stool.
