William Shakespeare. THE MOST EXCELLENT AND LAMENTABLE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET

◊ 2003 National Theatre Award. Best Director – Oskaras Koršunovas 
◊ 2003 National Theatre Award. Best Set Designer – Jūratė Paulėkaitė

Premiere June 13, 2003

Premiere of a renewed performance at Lithuanian National Drama Theatre – February 6, 2015

Director Oskaras Koršunovas: "Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is mostly understood as a celebration of romantic love. Yet in fact it is a social drama, which involves a case of ordinary love trapped in dramatic circumstances and thus lifted to the highest level of tragedy. What interests me most in this tragedy is the birth and flourishing of love within the realm of hatred and war in Verona. I wish to emphasize the paradox: hatred kills but it also hatred that gives impetus to love.

We can also consider this idea on the divine level too: love is born out of hatred and in order to overcome it. The example of the Montagues and the Capulets is eloquent because nobody remembers the reason for animosity anymore: everyone has forgotten what caused the war. Young Tybalt embraces hatred and fights for it as if it were a tradition. We often tend to nurture the traditions, which juxtapose some alleged differences and keep hatred alive. Unfortunately, this principle is becoming more popular than ever; we unite our communities in the quest for the enemy.

While staging the production, I've made the effort to analyze how hatred is shaping the differences, and becomes the cause of everything. I think hatred is the foundation on which differences between the Montagues and the Capulets thrive; it develops the illusion of disparity, deceives and enhances the conflict. All societies are divided like that.

Love erases differences. Only love can show that ultimately there is no conflict between the clans. Love creates freedom, and in freedom there are no oppositions. Unfortunately, for Romeo and Juliet freedom exists only in death. The sacrifice of freedom destroys modernity, conceived by children, as well as traditions, nurtured by parents.

Producer - OKT/ Vilnius City Theatre, co-producers – Avignon Festival, Remscheid City Theatre, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, THEOREM Programme.