“The Great Evil” takes root in Lithuanian National Drama Theatre
Rehearsals have started at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre (LNDT) for the premiere of the production “The Great Evil”, the working title of which was “Wartists”. The premiere will take place on September 23rd, and thus will open the 76th season at LNDT. Playwright Marius Ivaškevičius and director Árpád Schilling have cooperated as the authors of the performance.
“A year ago, Árpád and I started discussing the possibility of him staging a performance in Lithuania. In the wake of the Ukrainian war, we conceived an idea of a play, which would explore the way our foresights may change us as persons. What is our understanding of identity, position and choice? And how can we understand war without having experienced it? Playwright Marius Ivaškevičius was also captivated by the idea and soon started working with Árpád on it. Together, they managed to create a powerful text, which looks very fresh in the context of the Lithuanian dramaturgy. Halfway through the process, we seem to be approaching a uniquely interesting creative result, which will be presented at the start of the season. This premiere is a new challenge for the theatre and a step towards a deeper understanding of the issues a contemporary human being and the society face,” says LNDT Artistic Director Audronis Liuga.
The play, which will look at war from an unusual angle, will include a cast of different generations and acting schools: Diana Anevičiūtė, Dainius Gavenonis, Jevgenija Gladij, Gytis Ivanauskas, Vaiva Mainelytė, Valentinas Masalskis, Vitalija Mockevičiūtė, Martynas Nedzinskas, Valentin Novopolskij, Rasa Samuolytė, Nelė Savičenko, Beata Tiškevič-Hasanova. Set design for the performance will be created by Marius Nekrošius, and Sandra Straukaitė will design costumes.
Schilling selected actors for the play in 2014. More than 60 actors from all regions of Lithuania participated in the audition. The selected cast started working with the director in the summer 2015, when a creative workshop was held in Dzūkija National Park. Actors worked in different groups on assigned tasks, usually related to war. They directed, created props and played in the places they chose. Although tasks challenged the actors, the director admitted that he was absolutely satisfied with their work: “I have to say that I have never had a chance to work with such a talented and devoted group of artists. Actors in Lithuania are very brave and conscious. They are not afraid of challenges. It’s a big pleasure to create together with them.”
Marius Ivaškevičius wrote most of the play after the summer workshop, and some of the texts have been created specifically for certain actors. After the workshop in Dzūkija, Ivaškevičius started including actors biographical details, manner of talking and frequently used words into the text. “War is always close. We can’t deny it, we can’t help but notice it, and theatre has to speak about the acute problems of our time instead of creating illusional plays. I am sure that this will be the most revealing premiere of the season. “The Great Evil” speaks not only about arms and armies. Nazism, homophobia, hatred, greed - aren’t these forms of aggression? But not everything is that gloomy. We are looking for hope in our performance. Is it real or naive, let the viewer decide,” says Marius Ivaškevičius, playwright of “The Great Evil”.
Having chosen a complicated theme, director Árpád Schilling also thinks that theatre shouldn’t try to escape from painful realities but rather speak of them openly and courageously: “I find it interesting to talk about an artist’s position in a radical situation, such as war. Is it our duty to protect beauty, kindness, and peace or perhaps, on the contrary, we should be taking part in the conflict, even arm ourselves for that? I think, theatre is a space for a social discourse and social conflict, and it aims to make us understand that peace is very fragile. As an artist, my feeling is that I should react, share my emotions and ideas. This is not just a political performance, we want to explore war in all its forms, aggression in general, with dashes of sarcasm and laughter added to it.”
Premiere of “The Great Evil” will take place on the Big Stage of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre on September 23, 24. October 20, “The Great Evil” will tour in National Drama Theatre of Kaunas, and November 13, it will come back to the Big Stage of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre.