Belarus Free Theatre is evading an official ban by performing in vacant apartments and buildings around Minsk, reports Fiona McCann.

Natalya Kolyada has just finished a rehearsal but, despite an exhausting schedule and a play to put on, she's eager to talk to me. "We feel that journalists are our bodyguards because if something happened to us, we know that these people would scream all over the world. It gives us the hope that we could and should continue what we do," she says.

What she does is put on plays with Belarus Free Theatre, a theatre group she helped found with her husband Nikolai Khalezin and director Vladimir Scherban, which has been forced underground by the country's draconian authorities.

Undaunted, Belarus Free Theatre has found ways to perform in vacant buildings and apartments around the capital, Minsk. Audiences are required to call special phone numbers and then travel to the outskirts of the city to be identified before they can attend.

Now the group is reaching international audiences, with performances in New York and their current run in London's Soho Theatre. It hasn't been easy, however, and two of the group's actors, who also work for the Belarus state theatre, were refused permission to travel, a measure the group feels has come directly from the government.

"If you work at the state theatre, you need to receive permission from a KGB officer to leave the country. One of our actors was refused, but it's not because she has any performances on. She was told it is because she is going with us. When she asked why, they told her 'You understand why'," explains Kolyada.

The actor defied the ban, and left with the theatre troupe, using a Belarus mobile phone to call in daily and tell her state employers she was sick. It's a risk that will probably cost her her job and more, but Belarus Free Theatre is all about taking risks. Last August, the entire cast was arrested, along with audience members, and Kolyada's husband Khalezin has been in prison on several occasions.

The second actor who was refused permission to travel didn't make it, however, leaving the group down a cast member for their London performances. Undaunted, Khalezin, the theatre's artistic director, stepped in to fill the breach, which is why the group has been so busy rehearsing as he gets to grips with his new role.

"We got the news [ that the actor was refused permission to travel] two days before we got to London, so we were really stressed," explains Kolyada. "We've had rehearsals non-stop since we were here."

The repressive Belarussian measure has had a knock-on effect for Irish audiences too, as Khalezin was due to join his wife in Dublin this Thursday for an open interview in Dublin's Project, organised by Druid Theatre Company. Given his new role as an actor in the Soho Theatre production, which runs until February 23rd, Khalezin can't make his Dublin appearance, and the whole event was at one stage thrown into doubt.

With characteristic determination, however, Kolyada insists she'll come without him, so eager is she to communicate to international audiences what is going on in her country.

Belarus is ruled by Alexander Lukashenko, elected in 1994, whose increasingly authoritarian rule has earned him the epithet Europe's Last Dictator. Under his repressive regime, political opponents have disappeared, and security forces have been used to crush dissent. With allegations of illegal kidnapping rife and reports of death squads being used to silence those who speak out against the government, the dangers to those involved in Belarus Free Theatre are very real.

But Kolyada and her cohorts refuse to give up. "We cannot stop because we understand if we stop, then what? If we still continue to do what we do, at least we know for sure that we tried to change the situation in our country. There are political kidnappings in our country, there are political prisoners in our country. What happens to us is just a part of all these problems.

"You cannot stay above the fight," she adds. "You cannot have a neutral position in these conditions. When people are being kidnapped and killed, then you have to take action to change things in your country."

The public interview with Belarus Free Theatre takes place at Project, Dublin at 3pm on Thurs, Feb 21. The event is free, and tickets can be reserved by contacting the Project on 01-8819613/14