85 SEASON

We look at the world trying to understand it and, despite our best efforts, we find it increasingly impossible. The present is polarized and intangible, and we have lost the illusion that there is one truth. Every day we are under increasing pressure to choose black or white, one position or the other, and the search for compromise is met with hostility. The various forms of life are beginning to protest against the Anthropocene, its privileges, and its domination, and people are becoming more and more aware that we will be happy if we can survive, even if we are on the periphery. Humanity has experienced having a touch of the uncontrollable force of a splitting atomic nucleus. The splitting of an atom releases an amount of energy so great that it can become an atomic bomb and destroy those who created it. We are thinking of the fission within humanity as it splits into its parts – its past and its future, the known and the unknown, the visible and the invisible. We have appeared at a moment of disintegration, between past and future. Quantum physics explores the phenomena that allow particles to be in several places or several states of being at the same time – the same possibility that theatre gives us. Here we are looking for opposite positions and different meanings. Sometimes, unexpectedly and unintentionally, we discover meaning in meaninglessness. In the theatre, we can confront our choices – see them in front of us on the stage, analyze them, take a good look at them from all sides, and maybe even change our minds. And even if we cannot change the past, theatre gives us the opportunity to be present in this moment and to carry the feeling of this moment into tomorrow, hoping that we still have enough energy for change and empathy.  

In Lithuanian National Drama Theatre's 85th season, we invite you to dive into the unknown together and try to understand the world anew. Six premieres await you, united by the search for the causality of phenomena in our lives and the questioning of the origin of things. In September, the season will open in the Great Hall with Łukasz Twarkowski's "Quanta", which uses quantum physics as a new way of thinking about human beings, changing the deterministic perception of the world.

In October, Slovenian director Jernej Lorenci will interpret Albert Camus' "The Stranger" and reflect on the violence of opinion and opinion-holding in the present. In the Small Hall, LNDT's artistic director Eglė Švedkauskaitė will create a performance "A STAND-UP for Meaning and Meaninglessness" (the author is Birutė Kapustinskaitė), which will explore loss in the family through a stand-up comedy gig. In November, Uršulė Bartoševičiūtė will analyze the trauma that is passed on from one generation to the next in the play "Anatomy of a Suicide" (the playwright is Alice Birch).

The New Year's celebration will be followed by the premiere of Polish director Anna Smolar's production "The Birds". The creator's new work will explore the mechanics of dealing with a narcissistic personality, drawing inspiration from the memoirs of Tippi Hedren, the famous Hollywood actress and star of Alfred Hitchcock's films. In April 2025, Artistic Director Antanas Obcarskas will make his debut on the great stage with a performance based on the play "Fermentation" by Laurynas Adomaitis. What would happen if the good bacteria stopped working for humans and started demanding their rights? They are evil. They are fed up with exploitation, they want rights and they threaten a global revolt.

We invite you to find a (meta-)physical space in the theatre hall to reflect and share energy with the artists on stage exploring our past and future. 

 LNDT Artistic Directors Kamilė Gudmonaitė, Antanas Obcarskas, and Eglė Švedkauskaitė