Spring of the theatres

In two performances [of the festival] modern experience was reflected in a deeper manner. Theatre director O.Korsunovas in his “Playing the victim”, with the assistance from the Presniakovs’ drama, interprets Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” in a modern way.
By using stylization, literal quotations and self-quotations, the director speaks about insensitiveness of a modern human being. But that serves as a skillful mystification of profound talking about trivial human being of our time. And that’s been done in quite subtle way by precisely selected quotations of mass culture icons and by emphasizing their connection with classics. The human being of O.Korsunovas’ play lives in a languished inner space, which is surrounded by world of clichés, stereotypes, and mass signs. Coherent speech about the world and the self has been substituted by Russian swear- words.

Another performance is “Mate” (by theatre director Albertas Vid˛iūnas, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre). Already in the play itself (drama by Herkus Kuncius) there has been shaped preconceived attitude towards people of the Soviet time. In its artistic direction, borrowings of postmodern theatre are quite evident. Still, the very principle of self ironic talking is suggestive.

And therefore I believe that directors of both performances – “Playing the victim” and “Mate” – do not treat the theatre as provider of entertainment but try to deal with the senses of modern human being by suggestive scenic language.