The back story behind Being Harold Pinter is nearly as compelling as this powerful, politically themed show itself. Being presented by the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, this production by the Belarus Free Theatre almost didn’t make it to these shores, thanks to the relentless persecution by that country’s repressive regime. The company members literally had to be smuggled out the country, arriving here only days before performances were scheduled to begin.

New York theatergoers are certainly the beneficiaries, as this harrowing 75-minute piece displays both well-realized thematic ambition and intellectual rigor.

Adapted and directed by Vladimir Scherban, the provocative work uses the late playwright’s texts to explore the nature of power and repression. Using excerpts from the plays Mountain Language, One for the Road, The Homecoming, Old Times, Ashes to Ashes and The New World Order as well as excerpts from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech and letters from Belarussian political prisoners, it provides a compelling argument that even Pinter’s early, seemingly non-political works have great relevance when it comes to exploring the dynamics of totalitarian regimes.

Performed in Russian--the English supertitles are unfortunately hard to read--by a seven-person ensemble, the piece includes many striking visual touches, such as the application of red paint on an actor’s forehead to suggest an injury once suffered by Pinter when he fell. At another point, the actors writhe helplessly under a plastic sheet in a not-so-subtle metaphor for artistic repression.

Although those not intimately familiar with Pinter’s works may find themselves adrift at times due to the sometimes confusing manner in which they have been excerpted, the vividness of the writing still comes through powerfully. And the physical commitment by the performers, not to mention the personal bravery exhibited by the travails they went through both to create the piece and bring it to America, is to be greatly admired. 

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