The 20th "Versmė" Dramaturgy Festival Has Begun
Yesterday marked the opening of the 20th "Versmė" dramaturgy festival, organized by the Lithuanian National Drama Theater. It began with the event "Lost Springs." This featured readings of works from various genres - excerpts from plays and prose, poetry, and diaries - along with the creation of new drama from the collective sound of these texts, accompanied by a ritualistic performance on stage.
Gytis Ivanauskas, Rytis Saladžius, Nelė Savičenko, Dainius Gavenonis, Rasa Samuolytė, Rimantė Valiukaitė, Šarūnas Rapolas Meliešius, and Urtė Rimkevičiūtė read their selected and original works.
According to the event’s organizers and directors, Deivydas Valenta and Gediminas Rimeika, this was an event where words played an important role, but visuals and the meanings they convey were no less important.
"Versmė" will take place on Sunday, 30 November and all events are free of charge. Visitors can look forward to five play readings (three Italian plays and two new Lithuanian plays will be presented), as well as a lecture by Finnish drama agent Hinriikka Lindqvist and a discussion moderated by writer Mindaugas Nastaravičius, featuring Birutė Kapustinskaitė, Kristina Steiblytė, and Goda Dapšytė.
Today, 26 November, at 3:30 p.m., Hinriikka Lindqvist, director of the Finnish drama agency "Nordic Drama Corner," will give a lecture titled "The Partnership Between a Playwright and a Drama Agent - Together into the World," and in the evening at 6:00 p.m., Francesco Alberici’s play "Bidibibodibiboo" will be presented, which tenderly and humorously explores the choices and sacrifices, dreams and deep fears of a generation facing a dramatically unforgiving work environment. The play will be read by actors Vainius Sodeika, Aurelijus Pocius, Arūnas Vozbutas, Nelė Savičenko, Salvijus Trepulis, and Simonas Goptaitis. Directed by Paulius Juška. Following the reading, a meet-and-greet with the author will take place in the Small Stage of the LNDT.
Visitors can expect some unexpected set design choices - the sofas that are usually arranged in the niches of the LNDT foyer, keeping the "Versmė" sculpture company, have been moved to the Small Stage for one week (during the festival), where the "Versmė" readings are taking place. Thanks to a decision by the set designers random heroes, the yellow sofas will take on different forms each evening, becoming elements of the set design for each reading. More festival signs will also appear in the foyer, inviting visitors to stop and experience the ritual of reading.
Photos by D. Matvejev from the festival's opening:
We invite you to read this review of the festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary, written by Daiva Šabasevičienė:
Twenty Years of the "Versmė"
The "Versmė" Lithuanian dramaturgy festival emerged from a series of festivals organized by what was then the Lithuanian State Drama Theater: the International Autumn Theater Forum (1997 and 1998) and the "Women in Theater" Forum (1999). When the theater was granted the title of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater, it became clear that its mission extended beyond simply shaping its repertoire. The program of the Autumn Theater Forum featured not only the best productions created throughout Lithuania, but also productions from France, Denmark, Poland, Georgia, and other countries, while the "Women in Theater" forum presented ten projects involving over a hundred female artists. At this theater, ideas always emerged from within. The forums showcased a wide variety of theatrical genres, from literary to experimental. After each forum, discussions were held to consider proposals and requests. It became clear that the theater needed to embark on a new cycle focused on the growth of Lithuanian theatrical culture and the promotion of the Lithuanian language in the theater. This coincided with a period when the theater’s directors changed every five years, and each of them sought to understand the legacy they had inherited.
The "Versmė" Festival was first held in the fall of 2005, when the festival’s preliminary readings attracted the audience’s attention and confirmed that Lithuanian drama has something to say to audiences, while directors are inspired to take unexpected approaches to staging. By encouraging the creation of new Lithuanian plays and inviting contemporary directors to reevaluate the classics of Lithuanian drama, the "Versmė" Festival sparked a new theatrical impulse, the emergence of a new theatrical language, the exploration of new forms, a new sense of communication, and the exchange of theatrical experiences with theaters from other countries.
"Versmė" was literally born next to Stanislovas Kuzma’s (1947–2012) sculpture "Versmė," located in the theater’s foyer. At the time, the name "Versmė" seemed too straightforward, but out of respect for the sculptor, it was decided to use this name. Vytautas Rumšas, the theater’s director at the time, stood at the origins of "Versmė"; he was succeeded by Adolfas Večerskis, and, in modern terms, Jonas Korenka (1956–2019), who had recently begun working at the theater, became its producer.
Usually, directors do not organize festivals, so I took on this mission as a continuation of work I had already begun - organizing forums. At that time, I heard Polish critic Łukasz Drewniak speaking on Lithuanian radio about Poland, where there were sixty young theater creators at the time. In Lithuania, there were only a handful of young directors. The goal became not only playwriting but also the search for directors capable of staging the plays. Every beginning and every transformation is associated with young people, which is why "Versmė" sought first and foremost to find people who create theater. In one instance, playwrights also became directors; in another, theater creators used literary material merely as a pretext to express their own world; and in the third, more conventional case, a play was analyzed and transformed into theater using classical techniques.
The first "Versmė" festival opened with a lecture titled "A Retrospective on Lithuanian Drama" by literary scholar Aušra Martišiūtė and the lecture discussed the origins of Lithuanian drama in the 16th century, its development through various stages, examples from the 19th century, and a certain renaissance in the 20th century, which continues to this day through a new generation of authors; several of these authors were introduced during the "Versmė" readings.
The intrigue of a reading is always linked to the presentation of new material. The first "Versmė" began with Sigitas Parulskis’ play "Everything You Wanted." I always take great pleasure in reading this author. And you get excited when you think about one stage interpretation or another of his work. Director Paulius Budraitis, who belongs to a younger generation than the writer of the play, managed to discern in this work what is recognizable throughout Parulskis’ entire body of work.
It was clear how a director can immediately capture the essence of a work when watching Herkus Kunčius’ "Matas", directed by Albertas Vidžiūnas. These two authors created an anti-Bolshevik play in which recognizable segments were playfully reworked. Both Parulskis and Kunčius are known for their humor and tendencies to make their themes populist, yet their work was forged from intellect and expertise. The creative team, working with just a couple of scenes, managed to present not a rough draft but a complete play. Reading from the script in many places helped breathe life into the "party-oriented" spirit of the play. The audience was buzzing. The playwright crammed so many people, groups, ensembles, and political figures into this work that they were all trying to squeeze past one another through the tiniest cracks to break through to the surface and remain visible forever.
At that time, the then-young director Agnius Jankevičius demonstrated an anti-populist approach by choosing "Utopia" by theater scholar and translator Giedrius Gabrėnas (1952–1995). "Utopia" is based on François Rabelais’s "Gargantua and Pantagruel" - this is no coincidental "encounter" with the Renaissance writer. The director staged a protest-performance in the theater lobby, aiming to stir the audience into speaking, albeit in somewhat awkward language, about the rapidly spreading plebeian culture and politics, as well as plebeian social norms, which are often presented as the rules of an educated society. In the theater lobby, where visitors could fish in the small pool from Stanislovas Kuzma’s "Versmės", or spit into it and make a fuss, Jankevičius created a "one-off" piece, and the very next day it received an offer to be shown elsewhere. This is how theater is born; its growth depends on a multitude of circumstances, and no one ever knows which of them will prove decisive.
Vytautas V. Landsbergis presented a powerful play "The Mole’s Burrow" which later became "The Bunker". It is a documentary drama about the writer Kostas Kubilinskas. In writing this drama, V. V. Landsbergis used the language of theater to address the same issues that Kunčius had discussed. While the plots and literary styles differ, the plays’ social and civic themes are similar. The audience listened to “The Mole’s Burrow” with rapt attention, as if it were the 1990s. This play best demonstrated that people will spend their entire lives searching for their past, which is what constitutes a person’s identity. The play is historically recognizable, yet to young people, it feels exotic. The truths found in textbooks suddenly came to life on the actors’ faces and lips...
The "Versmė" readings culminated in a performance of "A Gu Gu" by the ever-evolving Benas Šarka Theater, which he created in collaboration with playwright Gintaras Grajauskas. The two Klaipėda-based artists proved that text can become theater and that a compelling text can, in general, shape the very concept of theater. Like an hourglass, the text flowed into theatrical action and vice versa. In this performance, we witnessed a process that forged chains of meaning, we observed how simple yet real objects transformed into poetic symbols. The observation of life, the essence of authentically experienced situations, and naturalness merged with a shamanically channeled stage energy.
These few examples demonstrate why "Versmė" is important. An important component of the "Versmė" festival is the public lectures and discussions, which have helped forge a connection between contemporary theater artists (playwrights, directors) and audiences. A jury was formed every year for "Versmė": it consisted primarily of theater scholars and, without fail, a representative of the Language Commission of the State; the committee watched the performances and, after the festival ended, awarded a prize to the actor who demonstrated the most beautiful use of the Lithuanian language. The "Audience Choice" award was established. The festival logo and commemorative prizes were designed by sculptor Stanislovas Kuzma, a National Prize laureate; the logo was based on a stylized image of his work "Versmė," symbolizing the source of the living Lithuanian theater tradition.
A memorable 2006 meeting and discussion with Lithuanian playwrights Juozas Glinskis, Saulius Šaltenis, Herkus Kunčius, Vytautas V. Landsbergis, Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė, Marius Macevičius, and Gabriele Labanauskaitė, moderated by Aušra Martišiūtė.
One of the festivals was accompanied by an exhibition organized in collaboration with the Lithuanian Theater, Music, and Cinema Museum: alongside published works of Lithuanian drama, copies of directors’ manuscripts for various plays were also on display, including Balys Sruoga’s "Gediminas’ Dream", Ignas Šeinius’ "Narvydis", Aldona Liobytė’s "Kupriukas the Musician", Petras Vaičiūnas’ "Patriots", and others.
Plays submitted to the festival poured into the theater at an incredible speed and in enormous numbers. It seemed that even those who had never written anything before were writing plays in Lithuania. People did not understand that playwrights are writers just like any others, and that drama is a literary genre. Electronic communication was still in its early stages at the time, so the plays were sent by mail. As soon as the competition was announced, the office would fill up with manuscripts within a couple of months; these were distributed to the members of the jury, and everything was sorted into boxes until the office began to resemble a mailroom. A few years later, dozens of unsuccessful contestants began sending in the same plays, having changed the titles, character names, and so on. Knowing that the jury members changed, they tried to jump back on the playwrights’ bandwagon. A decade later, things began to die down: some writers naturally dropped out, while others successfully made their debuts in dramaturgy competitions announced by other Lithuanian theaters.
The first festivals established the rules of the competition. It was decided to organize "Versmė" in two phases: one year featuring readings of contemporary Lithuanian plays, and the next featuring a festival that showcases both the theatrical projects that stood out during the readings and other stage productions based on national drama. During the festival, the Vilnius audience is given the opportunity to present their work to theaters from other Lithuanian cities (they are given the opportunity to perform on the Main and Small Stages of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater), and national plays from the repertoires of other theaters in the capital are also included in the festival program (which are performed on the stages of those theaters).
Theater critic Milda Brukštutė wrote about the early festivals: "Back then, "Versmė," with its unpretentious, non-committal attitude, managed to thrive through its openness, which attracted not only a large number of participants but also audiences. Halls would be packed with supporters of national dramaturgy, and sometimes even part of the floor of the Small Stage would be filled with listeners sitting comfortably close together. In a sense, by setting aside any practical benefits and avoiding forced efforts, the festival managed to achieve the coziness of a home environment."
As the festival’s objectives evolved, playwright consultants were invited for several years; with their help, the selected playwrights brought their play ideas to life. The first was Hungarian Anna Lengyel, a former playwright at the Kretakor Theater and co-author of director Árpád Schilling’s plays. The following year, writer Sigitas Parulskis became the mentor. That was the last year the competition was held according to set rules; subsequently, the focus shifted to presenting contemporary drama from one country or another.
Over the past twenty years, many similar processes have taken place in various countries. I was intrigued by the contemporary drama readings held at the Finnish National Drama Theater in 2011. During these readings, I witnessed a traditional reading of a long play taking place in the main auditorium, which was packed with people. The actors, sitting with their scripts in hand, managed to hold the audience’s attention throughout the entire act. What surprised me most was how much the Finns themselves cared about their own playwrights and the plays that addressed their issues. It became clear that Lithuanians, too, even as they seek quicker results and more appealing forms of expression, will always look for material that has grown from within, rather than being imported from other countries.
The 100 percent attendance at the "Versmė" festival readings confirmed that people find this interesting.
Now in its 20th year, “Versmė” has evolved and will continue to evolve, reflecting the most diverse aspects of contemporary life, contributing to the development of Lithuanian dramaturgy, and fostering a connection between theater creators and audiences.
Archival footage from "Versmė":
