Translated from English by Laimonas VAIČIUS
"I read the play and I realized: I want to live longer, even though time is running out. What struck me the most was how relevant this internationally acclaimed play is in Lithuania, not only ecologically but also socially. According to United Nations studies, Lithuania is the second fastest-disappearing nation in the world. Like many other phenomena in the world, we are on the verge of extinction. For a long time, we have been in the lead, but in the next couple of decades, the forecast for extinction is dire – almost 30% fewer Lithuanians. That's scary. I want the good life to continue. But our fate? What is our future scenario? For me, it is important to build the future today. And this play is my manifesto for life", says Antanas Obcarskas, the director of the play.
It is a work about the value of life, the inevitability of death, the miracle of emergence, and theories of extinction. The main character of the play tells the story of our planet: how it began to form, how different species came into existence and disappeared, and how we live today. Could it be that the climate crisis, caused by industry, human activity, and various businesses, has brought humanity to the brink of the sixth extinction?
A mass extinction is a geological period when a large proportion of biodiversity or individual species – bacteria, fungi, plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates – disappear. The fifth and last mass extinction occurred 65.5 million years ago when dinosaurs ceased to exist on Earth.
With the world on the brink of ecological catastrophe, we also need to rethink how theatre can operate more sustainably. For the first time in history, the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, together with 13 other leading European theatres (Swiss Vidy Theatre, Italian Piccolo Teatro, Croatian National Theatre, Hungarian Trafo Theatre, Swedish Dramaten, French MC2, Portugal's NTDM, Belgium's Liège and NTGhent, amongst others), is carrying out a joint project called STAGES, with the aim to develop a more sustainable theatre methodology.
All the participating theatres are developing a performance based on a play by the American author Miranda Rose Hall, which for the first time seeks to look at environmentalism in theatre in a fundamental way rather than in a declarative and superficial way.
The initiator of the project, director Katie Mitchell, together with Miranda Rose Hall, has adapted the play so that it can be re-staged and updated in each country where the play is being re-staged.
The aim is to produce "A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction" in each country in a way that saves resources and eliminates unnecessary travel and flights. The production can only use the electricity generated by the actors on stage, and the power used cannot exceed 150 watts.
The creation of the performance is financed by the European Union's "Creative Europe" program.
The performance has been produced in collaboration with the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, R.B. Jérôme Bel, STAGES – Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift: Dramaten Stockholm, the National Theater & Concert Hall Taipei, NTGent, the Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d'Europa, the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, the Théâtre de Liège, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor, Trafo, MC93, and the Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis.
This performance is part of the project "Sustainable Theatre?" conceived by Katie Mitchell, Jérôme Bel, and the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence for Sustainability at the University of Lausanne: two performances and a workshop based on the scripts and reproduced in each theatre in partnership with the local team.
