Kaunas State Drama Theatre completed the season with two quite different premieres - Agnius Jankevičius' Revolt and Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre graduate Žilvinas Vingelis' graduate work Number (course leader - Gintaras Varnas). The latter premiere was intriguing - we can see how the 21st century play is adapted; what director chooses to highlight and transfer from the drama text to the stage.
Theatre history counts thousands of years - it dates back to religious ceremonies of early communities, when people worshiped a birth, death and resurrection of a certain god. In Europe, theatre played a cultural, political and social role, therefore, in these series of articles we will discuss not only the stages of development of theatre, the birth of opera in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but we will also convey the theatrical atmosphere of various nations.
The work of 19th century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen - titled by many theatre scholars as a pioneer of contemporary drama - is recognized in many European countries; the works are staged in theatre and more recently in cinema. The playwright, who turned to the societal problems of his time, also received special attention in Lithuania.
I knew that Paulė Bocullaitė is busy spinning in a centrifuge of jobs: she paints, works in theater, creates advertising and participates in art projects. In addition, this year she won a Golden Stage Cross for the best stage and costume designer. Young and talented artist grew up in a family of theatricals, studied in art schools and art academy.
Kaunas State Drama Theatre, which has already presented five premieres this season, with two more planned in the end of May, invited an especially broad circle of people to dive into the sea of theatre experiences. The word especially is not accidental, it is purposeful. For the first time in the history of Lithuanian theatre the stage curtain was opened for the deaf and for the seventh time - for partially sighted and blind. The aim to involve everyone into the world of theatre is an initiative showing the self-consciousness of theatre and the sense of its meaning and value.
What was A. Areima's Mary Stuart like? It contained some formalism, some elements of own and other Lithuanian plays; there were different ways of acting, illustrative music chosen by the director and as illustrative video projections by Rimas Sakalauskas and a number of errors.
According to the ballerina, choreographer and dance teacher R. Kudžmaitė-Daraškevičienė, be it yesterday, today or forever, dance always speaks about the same thing - passion of life, human and destiny. Forms of expression change, but the very essence of dance remains unchanged. Thus, how and what does the dance speak of today?
Theatre and film actor Dainius Gavenonis, Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize winner has been previously awarded with Ministry of Culture prizes for his great roles; he had also received the Golden Stage Cross and Silver Crane among other awards. Actor, born and raised in Kaunas, shares the lively and sincere memories of his youth - one of the most important stages of life, full of fatal decisions.
Let the director Krystian Lupa's ideas and Hunger Master's semantic content be the start for the conversation with actress Viktorija Kuodytė while talking about the acting experiences - challenges and discoveries.
As much as nonconformism was mentioned in its context Artūras Areima theatre's Loser (based on Eduard Limonov's Diary of a loser) is not an avant-garde play and neither it is a performance about punks; there is also not that much (if at all) anarchy in it. However, it has plenty of references to various attempts to resist the rules of theatre, to punk subculture, to what was the avant-garde artistic movements of the second half of the 20th century and contemporary variations of Lithuanian avant-garde.
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