In it's 77th season The Lithuanian National Drama Theare asks you to exercise your soul
On September 2, the 77th season of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater (LNDT) season will commence. Its main slogan: “Exercise you soul!” The motto is the theater’s way of saying that we should draw our attention not only to a healthy body but also to a healthy spiritual world. Shortly after the end of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, at the end of August, the Lithuanian National Drama Theater blocked the sidewalks in Gediminas Avenue and invited passers-by to participate in a exercising program for the Soul.
One could notice allusions to the theatre’s idea of the new season and its calls to exercise your soul in late June, when the theater announced the premiere marathon. Then the theater gave no information on the first five performances in the autumn* and only assigned a number to each performance, wrote the date of the first show and the hall where it would be performed. The campaign was a huge success – all “coded” tickets were sold out even before the end of campaign. During the season presentation press conference the names of the directors and the show titles, which had been hidden under symbolic numbers, were revealed.
LNDT 77th season’s press conference. Lithuanian National Drama Theater’s General Manager Martynas Budraitis is speaking. Photo by D. Matvejevas
“In our society recently a lot of emphasis is put on a healthy body – the topics of healthy eating, sports, exercise are very popular, everybody takes care of their appearance, but what about your soul? in the 77th season the Lithuanian National Drama Theater will ask people to excersice their soul. The theater reminds of the necessity of an inward bound marathon as well as creates conditions for it. Throughout the season, the performances, one after the other, will raise questions to which, we believe, the viewers will find answers. Our goal is to reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the fear of talking. The therapy of our shows – to allow the audience to open up.” the main idea of the new season was presented by LNDT’s General Manager Martynas Budraitis.
According to M. Budraitis, it is no coincidence that the new season will begin from works by young theater creators who were involved in LNDT’s program for promotion of young theater creators. The theater season will offer interactive tours and performances, applied theater research and educational activities, workshops for playwrights, seminars and artists’ residences, the national dramaturgy festival “Versmė” (Spring, fountain), play readings and theater summer schools. Keeping the theater open and interesting to a wider range of audience – from socially vulnerable members of society to those who have not yet discovered theater for themselves, will continue to be LNDT’s top priority.
LNDT’s 77th Season’s press conference. Photo by D. Matvejevas.
During the first 6 months, the Lithuanian National Drama Theater will present its premieres in an intense pace. On September 2 – the debut of a young theater director Giedrė Kriaučionytė. Her performance “Bestuburiada” is based on the play “The Slipped Disc” by the German playwright Ingrid Lausund. Only a couple of weeks later director Rolandas Atkočiūnas will present his work based on a young Latvian playwright Agnese Rutkēviča’s play “Animal (Coo Coo)”. At the end of September we shall see a performance about refugees, “The Suppliants” directed by Oskaras Korršunovas, produced in cooperation with OKT/Vilnius City Theater. The show will take place in an unusual venue – the Red Cross hospital. In October, the audience will be presented as many as three premieres, including “Kuprelis” (The Hunchback) – the debut of another young director – Paulius Markevičius, “Apreiškimas Marijai” (The Tidings Brought to Mary) directed by Jonas Vaitkus (created in collaboration with the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theater) and “Raudonkepurė” (Little Red Riding Hood), intended for 5-10 year-old viewers, directed by Paulius Tamolė. In December, a young theater director Karolina Žernytė will present her performance of senses inspired by C. G. Jung’s biography and ideas. Created in collaboration with the theater of senses, the performance will be shown in a few different spaces of the theater.
LNDT’s 77th Season’s press conference. Photo by D. Matvejevas.
Large-scale theatrical works that are scheduled to appear later will be presented in the Great Hall. In December, the LNDT will present one more performance for children – “Old Man Bones on the Iron Mountain”, directed by Jonas Tertelis. Moliere’s comedy “Tartuffe”, dir. Oskaras Koršunovas is planned to premiere in January, in March the audience will see Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” directed by Yana Ross, and in May – a work based on the play “Lokis”, depicting life in the nineteenth century Lithuania, by the French writer Prosper Merimee, who took interest in the Lithuanian language and ethnography. The director of the play, Lukasz Twarkowski (Poland), also a video artist, author of the video projections in “Heroes’ Square”, has been awarded the Lithuanian Gold Cross of the Stage. The Lithuanian National Drama Theater plans to conclude the 77th season with an interactive tour-performance festival “B_Tours Vilnius” and a documentary theatre performance “Green Meadow” based on real life stories of the Ignalina nuclear power plant workers and residents of Visaginas, directed Jonas Tertelis and Kristina Werner (Germany).
The LNDT now encourages you to begin soul workouts and presents the “Soul Workout Schedule”. It is an opportunity to see all the premieres and at the end of the season receive a diploma certifying this, signed by the directors of all the performances. The “Soul Workout Schedule” can be found at the box office of the theater.
The Lithuanian National Drama Theater is going to present even more innovations in its 77th season – a special offer for businesses, encouraging employees to visit the theater, special offers for large families etc.
*Press release supplement:
Presentation of the premieres hidden under the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
Premiere No. 1 – a play on employees and their bosses “Bestuburiada” (The Slipped Disc)
Premiere No. 1 is a performance based on the play “The Slipped Disc” by the German playwright Ingrid Lausund, directed by a debuting director Giedrė Kriaučionytė. This performance is part of the program to promote young theatre artists developed by the Lithuanian National Drama Theater, but it discusses problems that are relevant to all employees. Creators of the “The Slipped Disc” ask sharp and sensitive questions targeting both the younger generation and older “experienced” workers including those who are approaching retirement... (as well as freelancers).
Director Giedrė Kriaučionytė. Photo by D. Matvejevas
In the performance five employees are waiting by the door to the boss’ office. They are waiting for their turn, for evaluation of their work, demonstrating all shades of people’s character. They want to love, they need closeness and understanding, but lacking the right conditions and being unable to create them, they are only trying to crush their colleagues.
Cast: Dainius Jankauskas, Gelminė Glemžaitė, Jovita Jankelaitytė, Dovilė Šilkaitytė, Aldona Vilutytė, and Šarūnas Zenkevičius. The premiere in the Small Hall of the LNDT will take place on September 2 and 3.
Premiere No. 2 – the play “Gyvūnas (Ku Ku)” (Animal (Coo Coo)) – the fourth cooperation between R. Atkočiūnas and Latvian playwrights
Premiere No. 2 is a performance directed by Rolandas Atkočiūnas according to the play “Animal (Coo Coo)” by a young Latvian playwright Agnese Rutkēviča. “For me it will be the fourth meeting with the Latvian dramaturgy. The play written by a young playwright Agnese Rutkēviča is notable for its interesting realistic plot and inner richness of its characters. “It is surprisingly difficult to be simply simple,” said Vincent van Gogh. It is going to be difficult for the Lithuanian theater to highlight the primordial simplicity without damaging it with “refined” solutions. In life, usually there are only two tragedies: not getting what you wish for, and getting it” says director Rolandas Atkočiūnas.
Director Rolandas Atkočiūnas. Photo by D. Matvejevas.
Agnese Rutkēviča, who has written the story about two brothers/ loners, also lives in rural Latvia. She says “The story of the two brothers is documentary. In dramaturgy, I am interested in people. People who live in the middle of nowhere, in a village that almost does not exist. The prototypes of the two brothers (Karlis and Janis) still live in the same village as my grandmother. Like most stories, this one is also about love. And it does not choose who you are – a woman, a man, gay or Muslim. Another theme that seemed important to me in writing this play – how fearful and intolerant of the other the Latvian society is today, even though we live in the twenty-first century “. Cast of “Animal (Coo Coo)”: Arūnas Sakalauskas, Marius Repšys, Toma Vaškevičiūtė, Emilija-Latėnaitė Beliauskienė, Rimantas Bagdzevičius, Remigijus Bučius, Ramutis Rimeikis. The premiere in the Small Hall of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater – on September 17 and 18.
Premiere No. 3 – an interactive play for children “Raudonkepurė” (The Little Red Riding Hood)
Premiere No. 3 in the marathon – “Raudonkepurė” (The Little Red Riding Hood), a play for children, written by Joël Pommerat, and directed by actor, dancer and choreographer Paulius Tamolė. Prior to production, the creative team of the play organized a workshop, in which they asked children and their parents what kind of performance the youngest theater-goers need. The performance, interactive and full of innovation, will be meant exclusively for children.
“The Little Red Riding Hood” is about a little girl and her loneliness. Do we as parents realize how much time our children spend alone, lacking their loved ones’ attention? How is a child affected by loneliness? In general, what is the relationship between parents and children? Three generations meet in this story: a daughter, a mother and a grandmother. Our fears, complexes or strangers – the character embodied by the wolf. All this hides in the original work whose plot comes from the classic tale of the Little Red Riding Hood. When you read the play you realize that the author wrote as much as was necessary and not a word more. On the other hand, the laconic and specific language gives freedom to imagination,” says Paulius Tamolė.
Cast: Eimantas Pakalka, Justas Tertelis, Kamilė Petruškevičiūtė, Vitalija Mockevičiūtė, Gediminas Rimeika, and Laurynas Žakevičius.
Premiere No. 4 – “Kuprelis” (The Hunchback) by the Lithuanian classic Ignas Šeinius
The fourth premiere of the “Premiere marathon” is the play directed by Paulius Markevičius based on the impressionistic novel “Kuprelis” (The Hunchback) by the Lithuanian writer Ignas Šeinius. They audience may remember Paulius Markevičius from his roles played in the performances of the LNDT: “The Divine Comedy”, dir. Eimuntas Nekrošius and “The Oedipus Myth”, dir. Gintaras Varnas. The adaptation was written by the Lithuanian National Drama Theater actor Arūnas Vozbutas. He will play the main role, opposite Jurga Kalvaitytė.
Actor and author of the adaptation Arūnas Vozbutas. Photo by D. Matvejevas.
“When I started writing the adaptation of Ignas Šeinius’ novel “Kuprelis”, I already knew in advance that the character of Gunda will be played by Jurga Kalvaitytė, with whom we studied together. When I met the young actor and director Paulius Markevičius some time later, I felt that we could do some interesting work together.
When the novel appeared, its author Ignas Šeinius was only twenty-four years old. I was surprised by the young writer’s maturity and discernment, unraveling the fate of a man who “has seen it all”. Šeinius was a good listener. I know that in his birthplace Šeiniūnai (Širvintos District) there actually lived and worked a humped miller Olesius, whose story was recorded by the young Ignasėlis. When creating this performance, the actuality of the material is something that warmed our hearts. The Lithuanianness of the material was another heartwarming factor because you feel like you are wearing your favorite comfortable shirt and are free discuss those interesting topics with others. This is the main goal of the performance,” says the author of the adaptation and actor Arūnas Vozbutas.
The premiere in the Study of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater will take place on October 22 and 23.
Premiere No. 5 – “The Tidings Brought to Mary”, dir. Jonas Vaitkus.
No. 5 was the code number of the Great Hall premiere – “Apreiškimas” (The Tidings Brought to Mary), directed by Jonas Vaitkus, based on the play by a six time Nobel Prize nominee, the French dramatist Paul Claudel.
“The Tidings Brought to Mary” is a play where individualities interact. People who live and act very clearly. We see the result of their life and interactions.
We all have epiphanies. We may sometimes overlook them, thinking that they were just a misunderstanding or a detour from our clear and planned life’s path. Epiphany, enlightenment is a return to ephemerality, fragility, and, at the same time, universality and eternity. If you are touched by those things, you begin to feel, which means that you are alive and you can perceive yourself in this world.
Any woman who understands what a child’s birth is, who is able to feel and understand with her mind and heart, what makes her strong and what she means in this life, can be compared to Mary.
P. Claudel has a strong vision. Obviously, theater means a lot to him. There are certain clichés in the play, but he is not afraid to use them. Clichés have their own power if they are made in a clear and vivid manner. We do all use such words as love, hate, anger etc. What matters is the context in which those words are used,” says the director Jonas Vaitkus.
Cast: Vytautas Anužis, Nelė Savičenko, Dalia Michelevičiūtė, Ainis Storpirštis, Agnieška Ravdo, Ineta Raulinaitytė, Gabrielė Ladygaitė, Gabija Urniežiūtė, Giedrė Kederytė, Elzė Gudavičiūtė, Marius Meilūnas, Mantas Barvičius, Petras Šimonis, Pijus Narijauskas and others.