I thanked him for ending my acting career!' theatre directors on their debt to Tom Stoppard

"In 2005, we wrote to Tom Stoppard from inside the tightening grip of what has been described as the last dictatorship in Europe. We were building a theatre that wasn't meant to exist in Belarus. Tom replied almost instantly: You can count on my support. But what else can I do for you? Our request was both audacious and simple: we asked him to come to Belarus. He agreed, asking only for some time to finish the final edit of Rock'n'Roll."

"When he arrived, he didn't give the classes we had asked for. Instead he listened, he asked questions. We took him to meet the whole underground resistance movement: artists, underground theatre-makers, the wives of friends who had been kidnapped and murdered, political prisoners, youth activists, journalists and human rights defenders. Sitting with us in the London bar in Minsk, he said something that captured everything we felt but had not yet found the words for: A dictatorship is not a political category, it is a moral one."

"Tom became Belarus Free Theatre's lifelong patron and our mentor. He told us, with a directness that always cut through the noise, that if we wanted to influence politics, we had to write great plays and stage great productions, because people only listen to those who know what they're doing. He proved that point at the Brussels Forum, one of the world's most prominent political gatherings, where we had asked him to speak."

Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin, co-founding artistic directors of Belarus Free Theatre, contacted Tom Stoppard in 2005 from inside what was described as the last dictatorship in Europe. Stoppard replied immediately, offered support, and agreed to visit Belarus after finishing his edit of Rock'n'Roll. During his visit he listened, asked questions, and met artists, underground theatre-makers, relatives of kidnapped and murdered friends, political prisoners, youth activists, journalists and human rights defenders. He declared, "A dictatorship is not a political category, it is a moral one." He became the theatre's lifelong patron and mentor, urging artistic excellence to influence politics and demonstrating his point at the Brussels Forum.

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