KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE. SEPTEMBER 2017

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Illustration by Viltė Žumbakytė

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National Kaunas Drama Teatre / Photo by Karolis LapaÄ?inskas

The on-paper summer holidays of theatres are over, and everyone’s talking about the new season, whether it’s their first or twentieth one. Kaunas Full of Culture is approaching its third year, this time turning into a place to both speak and listen at – after having the goal of exploring theatres of the city from different angles and through different roles, we hoped for a colourful, different-sided picture.

A hundred reasons to reason And it was, from unforgettable architecture (Kaunas State Musical Theatre) and several dust layers hiding interesting stories that inspired new plays (Jewish theatre) to priceless Kaunastic experiences (Kaunas State Puppet Theatre) and actors from all corners of the world shaping the theatre’s image (Kaunas Dance Theatre “Aura”), from traditions that still hold influence to reformers who are confident in the meaning behind what they do and the future results (Kaunas Chamber Theatre and “Šelteris”).

Entering its 98th season, the National Kaunas Drama Theatre welcomes autumn with a new slogan that would definitely work for other theatres, museums, galleries and concert halls as well – “100 reasons to emigrate into culture”. One of

the main premieres of the season, a play “Nathan the Wise” by director Gintaras Varnas will have to wait until December. It’s the first time this piece written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779 will be staged in Lithuania; challenging the issues that were quite practical for those days yet still remain gravely relevant today, the play covers topics fitting for a number of implications and answers, like the harmony between Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Will it become a performance everyone wants to see? Either way, we feel that reasoning and working things out should become the dominating element in various discussions about the city. And we’re not singling theatre out here.

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Silent theatre

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The theme of this edition is represented in photographs

by Karolis Lapačinskas, who’s now the head supervisor of advertising volunteers at the National Kaunas Drama Theatre.

He entered the community being an advertising volunteer himself.

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Karolis Lapačinskas

“This is a unique space. The last few years showed me different sides of it, from the cloakroom to the stage.

I managed to witness a larger part of the behind-the-scenes life but I’m sure I haven’t discovered everything there is to it. I’m fascinated by the fact that in order for a two-hour long play to exist, a team of many has an insane amount of invisible responsibilities which the spectators don’t always know about: lighting, creating the costumes, advertising, public relations, servicing the audience members and so on.

The charming thing is that the acting might start even before sitting in your chair – you can never know

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whether the young person pleasantly taking your coat is feeling dreadful today, maybe he or she got a bad grade or had a fight with a friend, yet it’s all behind a smiling face.

Apart from the captivating characters, the National Kaunas Drama Theatre has another unique attribute – its very different halls.

The Main Stage is one of the most modern ones in Lithuania, with its moving constructions, rain wall and other effects, however the Long Hall is placed in the former factory, giving a very distinctive vibe and acting as a decoration in itself.

The things I discovered everyday eventually led to the photo series #TeatrasTyloje [#SilentTheatre].”

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This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first performance at the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre (itself started as Stanislovas Rubinovas’ music studio for youth in 1976), an opera “Ten, viduje” [“There, inside”] by Giedrius Kuprevičius. A decade later the studio became a chamber theatre, then a youth one, finally a city one.

Free of isolation, the chamber way

By Kotryna Lingienė Photos by Donatas Stankevičius

After that the image of the institution was being shaped by Aleksandras Rubinovas (son of the mentioned S. Rubinovas), who organised “MonoBaltija”, a festival of one-person shows. We can only take a retrospective look at these processes as the theatre keeps on evolving without rest.

We met an art critic and theatrologist Jurga Knyvienė during her busiest period – she used to work with the communication of the National Kaunas Drama Theatre, and

now is the head of the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre. Passing through the main hall that’s a temporary decoration workshop, we settled at the theatre’s namesake bar yet we weren’t able to keep things calm: the plans, tempo, new premieres and enough space for newcomers ensures high energy levels. For the past two years, the theatre has a new life, and it’s now preparing to introduce three season premieres before New Year’s Eve, with a festival “Išeities taškas” taking place here in September.

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It’s been almost two years of you at the helm of this theatre. Yet you started working as a deputy director, right?

Yes, it’s going to be two years in October. In 2015 I was invited by the municipality to reform the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, while the legal matters were something the former team and the government couldn’t agree upon. Still, when the new company was established, we never looked back and kept moving forward.

What was the situation when you came to work here? Were you surprised?

In my head, this theatre had a reputation of an unconventional institution that’s courageous enough to experiment. But becoming an employee here made me realise that this place was isolated from change, the environment, society, culture…

We’re working hard towards getting rid of that isolation.

How difficult is it to make people trust the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre again? Or do younger creators collaborate happily?

Having in mind that I wasn’t a new face in the theatre community when I came here, we had many proposals to collaborate from the very start. We’ve stated publically that this theatre is open and thus far we haven’t had any problems with inviting people to work alongside us. This probably means we’re doing something right.

Our first priority is remaining open to the youth. Most youngsters don’t see theatre as an interesting place even though the professionals themselves think their world is as fascinating as it gets. We want to get the attention of younger audiences by showing them that theatre can be a whole lot of different things, especially genre-wise, where the limits are basically gone.

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We hope to bring foreigners over to help us with the evolution of the local interactive theatre, which can also be very different, whether in terms of physical interactivity, technological approaches or whilst connecting the two. A young person who’s used to being in contact all the time might find it odd to sit in a chair and observe people doing something on the stage, and I understand that perfectly well.

You had a youth workshop for interactive theatre this summer, didn’t you? How did it go?

The results always depend on the content, but live sessions are very useful in seeing what works and what doesn’t, getting feedback and discovering the relevant issues. Kids of different ages came here, with grades 7-8 taking part in a “Forumo teatras” situation laboratory, whereas older pupils and others discussed interactive theatre with director Antanas Gluskinas.

We’re interested in what children and teenagers are interested in. How are they picking movies, hobbies?

That’s exactly why we’re organising the “Išeities taškas” festival – we need to find out what’s important to youngsters of Kaunas as there are almost no plays for this specific age group. After growing out of going to see puppets, they essentially have no choices except “Mechaninė širdis” [“Mechanical heart”] at the drama theatre. And if you don’t go to the theatre for a few years, it’s normal to stop wanting to go later.

Tell us more about “Išeities taškas”. Is it a festival by young people for young people?

The festival had its debut last year; most of the organisers were students and amateurs. This time we have a much wider programme but yes, you could call it “by young people for young people”. This event is

about where we all start, what motivates us to go to the theatre.

Can the popular plays of this festival become part of the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre’s regular programme?

Keeping an open heart about it, we don’t want to institutionalise the theatre too much, so we’re not after additional commitments. If some people prefer to call a play “a part of the regular programme”, they can.

However, if we want to bring the performance abroad or to improve it, we don’t have to include it into the repertoire of just one theatre. Overall, when we were composing the programme, we invited other theatres and institutions which work in the same direction as us, trying to give something to Kaunas that it doesn’t yet have.

Which theatres were those?

Last year we had enthusiastic visits from the “Apeironas” team as well as from the Klaipėda Youth Theatre, “Dansema” and their plays for toddlers, an interactive “Stalo teatras” theatre, “OKT/Oskaro Koršunovo teatras”, also “Bad Rabbits”, who even had one of their premieres here as they don’t have their own space so far. The number of such theatres is growing, and halls of the national theatre are typically too expensive for them while we are much more flexible. We want to provide Kaunas residents with performances they can’t see elsewhere, without copying the puppet, musical or drama theatre. The latter might have a somewhat similar programme to ours but we see our own niche in the interactive sector.

What’s the relationship between your theatre and Lithuanian dramaturgy? Do you feel a moral obligation to introduce young Lithuanian authors?

We have no direct way of finding them yet since the works get to the theatre thanks to the ideas of directors; it isn’t just about dramaturgy – we’re thinking about the performance on the stage as a whole.

Half of our programme is composed of Lithuanian pieces, however those are not necessarily works of young authors or playwrights for that matter. They can be adaptations of Lithuanian books or something completely different, like “Alksniškiai”, a piece written by Gytis Padegimas himself whilst following historic material.

Did the new Kamerinis bar send the right message to Kaunas residents who don’t go to the theatre?

Definitely. When it opened, many people found out that we exist. Not all visitors come to the plays, of course, but there are those who visit the bar and then give a performance a chance.

Which play do you like the most here?

I wouldn’t like to single one out as they all have their own function.

Some spectators watch a play with tears in their eyes while others leave it after 15 minutes. I personally like the works of directors who prefer dealing with youngsters, but not just them as we do need a whole spectrum of atmospheres to enrich our personalities, covering sadness as well as joy, caring, sentiment. You can see the same performance twice and have two totally different experiences.

What’s your take on the Kaunas Small Theatre becoming part of your institution? Did you also get their plays, staff, spaces?

We’re hoping to get those spaces that are now being taken care of the municipality. After discussing it with our community, we know what

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Spektaklis „Alksniškės“ / Kauno miesto kamerinio teatro archyvo nuotr.

plays of the Kaunas Small Theatre we’d keep. Those plays could be refreshed by collaborating with the directors and shown in the same location.

There was also a pantomime theatre in Kaunas, which was quite a revolutionary affair of those days. Do you ever consider having pantomime as part of your programme?

If there are people who want to do something with this, let them come and talk to us. Maybe we’ll find a way to make it happen. That theatre

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kind of died out when it was made part of “Aura”. The same happened with the Kaunas Small Theatre as it didn’t even have a troupe, only the administrational staff and a repertoire.

Some professionals in the cultural sector see changes like these – incorporations, shutdowns and so forth – as negative shifts.

Does that come from the fear of losing the guarantees?

There’s probably no definite answer.

State-budget theatres or other similar structures tend to form a habit

Walk us through the season premieres. What can we expect?

The first one comes in September, it’s a coproduction with the “Utopia” theatre and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. The play’s called “Pagalvinis” and it’s based on the final work of one of Gintaras Varnas’ students, written following the piece by an Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. One of the main topics of the performance is violence against children, and it’s embodied by the creations of the artist, this way shying away from becoming a dull reflection of the social reality.

The author wants to preserve these

creations yet they need to be destroyed because of the crimes they catalysed. It’s a serious, painful and funny play at the same time. A signature work by Varnas and his students.

The performance for older teenagers directed by Antanas Gluskinas is staged following the book “Ačiū, gyvenu gerai” [“Thanks, I’m doing well”] by a Kaunas local Justina Stučinskaitė, which she published during her medicine studies. It’s a play about lost love and a lost connection. How should one recover from it, how to rediscover oneself and change? The spectators will be able to see some part of the heroine’s inner monologue in their phones or tablets after downloading the app for the play. Named “Ti”, it premieres in October.

December will witness the third premiere – four actresses and director Darius Rabašauskas are working on a play about the different forms of death. Based on mythology and the old worldview, the performance is called “4 Mortos”. It aims to create a feeling of death being part of us rather than a separate scary process. We all have a certain small death that accompanies us throughout life and helps us. If I’m about to die, what should I do? How should I act knowing that these are probably my last days? Believe it or not, it’s a fun play which will indirectly quote the works of Gintaras Beresnevičius and possess his humoristic take on mythology.

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not to take attentive care of their activities and especially not to look for ways to make it interesting for the audience. On the other hand, a total freelancer-of-a-theatre is a very complicated organisational and managerial structure: actors who work at several theatres find it hard to have time in their schedule to rehearse and perform. Lithuanians aren’t used to show one play for an intense period of several weeks or months. Local audiences need it to run for several years, and that involves everyone being able to come together for specific dates. That’s incredibly hard yet possible. Of course, the migration of actors now is more frequent than ever. Sometimes a play that’s only been shown for a season or even half of it has to be cancelled due to the actors accepting other proposals, without even a mention of it all paying off in the moral sense.

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The everchanging Aura

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Birutė Letukaitė founded the Aura dance theatre 35 years ago. Later this Autumn, the 27th dance festival organized by the theatre will take place in Kaunas.

We’ve been recommended to see two brand new performances by four of the theatre’s dancers.

By Kotryna Lingienė and Kęstutis Lingys Photos by Teodoras Biliūnas

They’ve chosen Kaunas over numerous other cities in the world and they represent four different countries. Multiculturalism is one of the key aspects of the thetre; one has to admit, however, that the dan-

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cers come and go quite often. Some of them do stay for more than one year, like, for example, Evgenii Kalachev, one of the four international dancers we met while visiting Aura.

Let’s hear what all of them have to say.

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I have already learned some of the repertoire from other dancers and they have been very nice for me. I cannot tell yet which performance I like the most. But, because I learned it and I understood what the process is, and the dancers explained to me what the process was behind the scenes, how the dancers were involved in creation of the steps and the movements, I like the freedom what we have and the responsibility that comes out of it. It prepares you for anything afterwards.

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Jasper Joshua Narvaez, The Philippines I‘ve only been here for a week! I just graduated from university where I studied dance. When you graduate, of course, you want to get a job. So, you send your resume everywhere. It helped that AURA had a dancer who was from my school, so I found out about the company through her. She also told me about what the company‘s work is like. I thought, why not?

So, here I am.

Chiara Corbetta, Italy I first came here in February to do the audition. I then spent a few months auditioning in different cities in Europe and ended up here – I moved in July. I liked the audition, I guess this is the main reason why I am in Kaunas. We did a lot of improvisation, much more than we learned the existing repertoire. I haven‘t learned all the pieces yet, but the one I‘ve seen and learned the most is “Godos”. I learned the female part and then male part, too, for a show in Germany. It was very interesting to see both perspectives of the piece. I‘m also excited to create new pieces that will be my favourites!

Blake Seidel, USA I spent the last year living in Israel. I also spent a couple of months auditioning all over Israel and Europe. One of the main reasons that I‘m here is that I wanted to find a

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job in Europe and not in the US, because I lived there my entire life and I wanted to experience something else. I wanted to go, live and experience new cultures. My sister lives in Paris so I wanted to be closer to her.

I actually didn‘t go to the audition but one of the other dances here, Clara (we studied in Israel together), she did, and she told me “Aura” was looking for another male dancer. I sent them my information, I came to the audition and I saw the piece called “Godos”. I totally fell in love with it and decided this was the company that I wanted to dance for if I get to dance pieces like that.

I got here on July 13th. From what I’ve already seen, I really like the Kaunas lagoon, the park and the Pažaislis monastery. I went there during a sunset with one of my friends, and it was gorgeous. It reminds me of home.

one of us decides he or she wants to be a choreographer, I think he or she will be more than ready for that. Of course, I like that “Aura” is an international company, it‘s very interesting to meet new people from all over the world and experience new cultures, not only read articles about them.

When thinking about a company that I’d like to work for, firstly, I looked at what the company can create and what is the culture of the company. Also, as Blake told, the main performance that I really liked and that invited me here was “Godos”, the second part in particular.

When you‘re choosing a company, you don‘t really have a lot of time to understand what the real process is.

You only have one day for the audition and talking to people, but that‘s not enough to really meet the company. Only when I started working, I experienced a lot of benefits. There’s a lot of freedom and responsibilities on the shoulders of the dancers. For that reason, I think that “Aura” is a very good place to grow. If one day

Apart from “Godos”, I also really “Twister”, a piece we created with an Italian choreographer Salvo Lombardo Salvo Lombardo. Not because of the aesthetics of movements, but because of the cultural background that this piece has and the values it exposes. Our life is like a game.

It has some rules but you can enjoy what life can bring you. Preciseness and beauty of joy without big effort…

Those values that I got working on this piece were very important and beautiful for me. I also love the piece “Glück / Laimė / Cчастье” with the German company “Bodytalk”, as I like to try and communicate with the audience during the performance. I like to be expressive and straightforward.

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Evgenii Kalachev, Russia My second year in “Aura” is starting now. I live in Žaliakalnis and I love to have dinner in the balcony, watching the sunset. Also, I really liked a venue called “Largo”, which is also in Žaliakalnis. I visited a sublime event of artistic electronic music there.

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A young theatre director Gildas Aleksa goes on to create uncomfortable plays by not playing it safe and winning audiences over with his enthusiasm and captivating ideas.

He’s not about to stop after founding the “Teatronas” troupe or establishing a platform for independent stage arts, “Šelteris”. Among a large number of his ambitions is placing a circus tent in a residential neighbourhood, staging “Othello” in a stairway, working on foreigner-friendly performances or plays for the security staff.

Saying “we’re different” is not enough

By Edvinas Grin Photos by Donatas Stankevičius

How did you end up in theatre?

It’s one of those humdrum stories where the parents tell you to have a normal profession. I had to become a chemist, geneticist or someone like that. When I mentioned that I want to try theatre, my parents consulted their friends and said yes, but only if I went to Moscow. I wasn’t familiar with Russian theatre at the time yet I trusted my parents’ taste. We got into the car and drove to Moscow.

Russia was a strange place to me with all of the competition and hierarchy, especially during my entrance

exams. One professor was trying to provoke me all the time, but I just felt it was funny. I finally got in – being a bit disappointed, maybe because I didn’t want to study there.

Then some quirky woman with a Prada pantsuit told me that I could study as an actor, not a director.

I found out that there is also a course for musical theatre directing, however that didn’t interest me. I’ve made the decision to study acting for a year and then transfer to the class of directors. Finally, Moscow

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proved to be too expensive for me – I couldn’t manage to get enough money to study. I didn’t want to stay there. The smell of sausages in the directors’ department still haunts me to this very day. So, I got back to Kaunas and was depressed for a year. I called Aidas Giniotis; being all obnoxious I just visited him and threw a bunch of my written works on the table. I got in. Late, in spring, but in. That’s how I became close with the craft – I don’t think that would have been possible for me in Moscow.

Is theatre education important to you?

I was 16 when I first went to the theatre, and the play was Gintaras Varnas’ “Ruzvelto aikštė” [“The square of Roosevelt”]. I was dressed in my best clothes and was surprised to hear the chorus say “they cut his right hand off, they cut his penis off”. Only then I realised that theatre can be a lot of things. I started visiting the studio at the drama theatre, where people introduced me to the reality of it very quickly. I found love for this art. Now one of my dreams has come true – I’m a teacher at the same studio.

I’m basically a dead body after a day spent with kids. You give everything you have to them and hope not to hit a street post on your way home.

Of course, seeing the way they think, how they change whilst at the theatre and understanding that you have future hooligans, murderers, rapists or presidents in your hands is quite the feeling. It’s up to you to show them the direction, introduce them to various cultural approaches – you can’t do all that offhandedly.

Are you disappointed in our institutions? What was wrong with regular theatres if you decided you needed to create “Teatronas” and then “Šelteris”?

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While going to the drama studio I got the picture that my age group doesn’t really have any plays we could relate to. Also, I probably have this need to create something that’s not yet here, so my start in the theatre business was a minefield even though I knew that I wanted to do this.

The stage artists of Kaunas were whining for a while that there’s no place for alternative art here. We had our own space at Juzė for one year; it was mighty cold yet the audiences still came. Then a warm hall at “Tautos namai” became available to us and I realised that it would be a sin to decline their proposition.

We wanted to share that space with other artists, we even made a public, open invitation… and no one was interested. Everyone wanted financial support, subsidies and a professional space. I knew I had to change our approach.

Upon founding “Šelteris”, three priorities of a successful art institution were clear to me: the concept, order and quality. In Kaunas, every theatre institution that had the chance to reform itself eventually lost its identity.

Cases like these are bringing down the motivation of people that could benefit from seeing my plays: as I’m inviting them to my theatre, they typically state they’ve already been to the theatre and therefore they aren’t interested to see anything new. Maybe I just dislike individuals that enjoy sitting comfortably for ages, and that’s probably because I can’t support my actors, not to mention myself. I get angry when I’m at an institution where a person gets a guaranteed salary and still dares to arse around or skip a few days of work. When you’re working independently, you see very clearly whether you’re needed or not –

I’d recommend state-supported theatres to try that for at least six months. That would be a useful cold shower for them.

We are here because there’s a need for us. And we have to keep up with those needs – I want to provide the spectators with democracy, with the chance to see plays they want to see.

I’m not a believer in theatre with just one person in the audience.

It’s more than likely that the actors in your troupe won’t be working for free forever. Are you ready for that?

We all hope that we’ll manage to prove to Kaunas or the country that we’re needed. We’re not complaining whilst aiming to get financial and emotional support, we’re just acting accordingly and working purposefully. One of the reasons the actors are still here is that this is not a theatre of my vision, it’s a place of all of our vision. We’re equal here. If you’re a part of “Teatronas”, you’re carrying linoleums around, constructing decorations and so forth. Obviously, I’m doing that alongside everyone.

This summer you organised “Circuliacija”, a contemporary circus festival. How did you discover this form of art?

When I stumbled upon this genre, I instantly fell in love with it. Looking around made me witness that our city lacked such activities. There was a meeting of Baltic and Nordic circus representatives at the Arts Printing House in Vilnius, and Lithuania was represented by only one professional circus performer and also a girl from the audience – Marija Baranauskaitė, a clown. I thought I needed to invite both of these women to Kaunas: if they’re good at what they do abroad, it’s interesting to see what they can create in our country.

I was afraid to bring plays over, to keep endlessly selecting them, becoming an “administrator” or even building a circus tent. In the end, we did build one in Eiguliai, and the neighbourhood’s community reacted positively, coming to chat to the artists. One resident couldn’t afford a ticket so foreign performers chipped in to buy her one. At first, many people asked us where the animals were – this was an opportunity to tell them what contemporary circus is about and that it doesn’t really involve animals anymore. Later, all of my stereotypes about Lithuanians were completely shattered as we were accepted very warmly; the spectators were truly involved and interested. Yes, I was against building the tent, however seeing the happy community made me plan another circus tent next year – also in a “grey” residential neighbourhood with many identical blocks of flats. It was a great, rewarding, priceless experience and it certainly made up for all the sleepless nights.

So you’d like to see theatre break out of the city centre?

Sure, and the same goes for all culture – it needs to reach everybody.

Performance art is not something most individuals read about before they go see it, they go to the theatre as an institution. And in order for them to come to you, it’s not enough for you to simply say “we’re different”. Circus was great in that sense as we came to the people ourselves.

Some of them just saw us through their windows and that was enough motivation to visit. I now have an idea to tackle Shakespeare’s “Othello”, staging a performance in a stairway of a residential building.

You’ve lived in Israel. Tell us about it. Is the subject of war present in your plays?

I went there when I was five and

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One weird thing that’s present in Lithuania and absent in Israel is the constant fear for your safety. In Israel you know for sure who your enemy is, while here it can be your neighbour that rapes you, a drunk driver that hits you – you’re existing in a certain mode of war that’s referred to as peace. The first play of “Teatronas” – “Kas prieš karą, pasiduokit” [“Surrender if you’re against war”] – was created after a girl was kidnapped and burned inside a car.

We’re living in an illusion that everything’s fine and that’s by far not the case.

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You’re not afraid of social and political topics in your performances. Do you agree that an artist should take responsibility in speaking about things that are relevant for his or her society?

Whenever I’m asked why I care about a certain issue, I reply that I firstly care about it as an artist. Things shouldn’t be this way – an actor or a spectator should feel free when they come to a play. If we want democracy to flourish and exist for that matter, we shouldn’t include norms that insult people into our educational or cultural programmes. I have the ability to reach the audience, so I’ll definitely use it to talk about relevant issues.

What’s next for “Teatronas” and what kind of a repertoire will “Šelteris” have?

The troupe won’t have any free days during the new season. We start in October. November will see us working on a joint project with the Kaunas Artists‘ House; we’re also creating an interactive play-tour inside the war museum – it’s going to be a dystopian piece with a sad narrative and a lot of propaganda. A premiere in Alytus awaits us, and we’re hoping to be able to stage a play about a sect this season as well. It should be titled “Sect”, with the main idea being to create an actual sect, including spectators in rituals and worshipping ceremonies. A sect is a beautiful podium to exhibit social critique and art withal. A director from Los Angeles is coming in May – he will work on a trilogy with us about a Jewish “Golem” myth. We’re going to Italy in winter to perform the previously mentioned piece “Kas prieš karą, pasiduokit” – the Italians love it for some reason.

At the same time “Šelteris” will introduce three new platforms. The first one launches in November – it’s foreigner-friendly plays for everyone who doesn’t speak Lithuanian. This

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I remember going back to Kaunas and witnessing the greyness of Šilainiai. There were two girls playing with dolls in the yard and a homeless man was lying next to them – this was my first sight after returning to Lithuania. My mother made a bet with the headmaster of the school that I’d learn Lithuanian soon, otherwise they wouldn’t have accepted me. I did learn it.

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came back being fifteen. We were economic immigrants. I know very well what the phrase “we’ll go back home when we have enough money” means – it means we won’t ever go back. We only returned because the city was under attack. Being fifteen years of age, hiding from bombs in a bunker with my parents, I asked them: “Don’t you think we’re fighting someone else’s war?”. I could understand resisting if we were Jewish or if we loved that country to bits, however we weren’t happy there. My father once got out of a bus that exploded five minutes later. I grew up with Israeli propaganda saying that one needs to grab a gun and defend one’s country. But then I thought, why suffer? People were clinging to their country, fighting for it while living in terrible conditions, and the four of us were dreaming about Lithuania all the time.

organisers just phone each other and pack the programmes full of plays following recommendations of friends or colleagues, resulting in young artists having absolutely no chance of getting in. Therefore, the plan is to invite the organisers and show them the works in progress that they could “buy” for next year. To buy something fresh. We’re an open platform with open people, so enough with complaining that there’s no space for everyone.

What motivates you to work on so many projects?

If I wasn’t into it, I wouldn’t do it as I’m certainly not a masochist. All of these initiatives are very important to me, especially when a feeling of it being fun as well as necessary takes over. I’d rather be sleepless and hungry than not do what I like.

programme filled up very quickly, we even had to decline some of the offers. It involves artists like Gintarė Minelgaitė with “Gora Prazyth” and Karolina Žernytė with “Pojūčių teatras”. Maybe we’ll have contemporary dance too.

The second platform is reserved for children plays, while the third one will come to life in spring, called “Boost’as”. The idea behind the latter platform was born out of a simple need to have an open application process, which none of the Lithuanian theatre festivals have. Usually

My own vision for theatre is to expand the “Šelteris” platform and bring more like-minded people together, making money for it abroad.

We feel more appreciated in foreign countries, and we’ll have more plays outside Lithuania this season, but that actually results in us thinking about what’s different out there compared to how things are here, what could be better, why are Lithuanians reacting to particular processes this way and so forth. We’re looking for solutions to reach the audience in new ways. I’m nothing without actors and my plays prove it.

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What’s theatre like today and what’s the near future of it? Do you have a personal vision for it?

Theatre is positively moving in its own direction, unfortunately Kaunas seems to be lost in this sense, and I’m talking of all institutional theatres in the city. They’re facing self-destruction. Artists need to get out of their comfort zone to change the situation.

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Dolls are created in theatre (and in bed)

By Julija Račiūnaitė Photos by Donatas Stankevičius

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The Kaunas State Puppet Theatre was founded in the middle of last century by drama actors Stasys Ratkevičius (1917-2010) and Valerija Gruodytė-Ratkevičienė (1916-2004).

In 1958, the people of Marijampolė saw its first play “Stebuklingas Aladino žibintas” [“Aladdin’s Magic Lamp”], and 1960 had the theatre move to Kaunas, to a space previously used by an Interwar cinema Odeon (during the Soviet period it was renamed Baltija, then Pionierius).

From then on, this theatre became an inseparable part of Kaunas, with its behind-the-scenes dynamic being probably the most exceptionable one in the city. Production personnel, especially their technical craftsmanship in bringing dolls to life, holds an enormous influence on the play’s persuasiveness and eventually success. Thanks to these professionals, the skull of Yorick is placed and held in Hamlet’s hand

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the way it was supposed to be. The whole staff of the workshop was present for the conversation with us.

Everyone made jokes and answered the obvious questions in unison, however two people provided the most detailed responses – constructor Algimantas Kumpikas, a legend among Baltic doll makers who’s now “on an unlimited vacation”, and Jolanta Gipienė, in charge of the properties department.

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When and how did you get involved in working with dolls?

A. K. In 1971, when I was living in the same house with the late Algimantas Balčiūnas. He was the one to invite me to work at the puppet theatre yet not as a constructor, as a sound director first. When I started working there, the technical operations were of pretty low quality – the dolls were hard to control, they were poorly made. For some time, there were two engineers working in the position of a single puppet constructor, but those two didn’t last long here. You need to have a certain feel for this kind of work, knowing the mechanics of the dolls pretty well and therefore being able to adapt to any new task you get. The theatre manager and director both noticed that I could work with puppets, and they realised that they could easily find another sound director, but not

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a good doll maker… I remember the days when I used to fall into my bed after work and think about mechanisms all night. One time a newspaper Kauno Tiesa interviewed me and asked what was my time of inspiration. The headline was “Algis Kumpikas, constructor at the Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, creates the dolls in bed”. This was a joke, of course, however I never had the experience of just seeing the sketches and understanding how it all will work. It’s always a long road towards the final design. We’re always consulting, arguing, shouting – it’s war over here!

Now we’re smiling for you, but we might give one another a few black eyes after you leave [laughs].

What challenges do you face in this line of work?

A. K. My main goal is quite technical: I need the doll to be able to

make as many different motions as possible, at the same time remaining easy to control by the actor so he or she could perform well. The person will only have this puppet to communicate with the public, to show all emotions. My 45 years of work kept me constantly surprised as I held many different characters in my hands – every new play becomes a fresh challenge that requires specific technological solutions. Our process is very much collaborative: you can’t place eyes on the doll until the papier-mâché layer done by another artist is ready; one person glues the hair, another paints the puppets and so forth, while my job is to make sure all the dolls are functioning properly. I work closely with artists – their sketches might be totally different from what has to actually be created in order for the puppet to look alive, move and, eventually, act.

After many years of acquiring experience, I’m finally stepping down and allowing a new constructor [Tomas Zinkus] to take my place – he’s all about introducing innovations. I’m glad that there’s a solid professional here when I’m gradually backing out from the theatre.

Which plays will bring the biggest challenges?

J. G. Well, at the moment we’re making decorations for a play that will have its rehearsals start on Saturday, so we’re in quite a hurry. The period of winter holidays is probably the most hectic time of year, with two Christmas performances planned: one will be staged by director Sigutis Jačėnas and artist Sergejus Bocullo in the main hall; another one, in the small hall, will be looked after

by Daina Ulmytė – artist, director and actress of a younger generation.

Christmas plays are usually already being shown in the beginning of De-

cember. Two performances take place in a single day, so two units of actors have to be working constantly.

All of us – actors and other professionals – have to work our butts off during periods like these.

Do you sometimes find an interesting item of clothing lying on the street and then take it to the workshop, hoping to one day use it?

Everyone Yes!!!

J. G. Actually, we find things close to trash bins at times – we’ve found an old suitcase this way, some great hats. And if you notice an interesting sheet of plastic that’s been run over, you grab it!

A. K. Sure, and then a person approaches you and says this belongs to him.

J. G. Now that’s a lot of baloney Algis!

Could you briefly walk us through the stages of making a puppet?

A. K. First, the director and artist discuss the vision of the play. The artist then prepares some sketches and works on them with the director. After that, he brings the sketches (along with technical schemes of the dolls) to us; you also had to make a dummy model of the puppet during Soviet times, which some artists still do even today. Our work is a step-by-step operation, constantly consulting the director, artist and actor. We have to gather a lot of information: whether the performer is left-handed or not, what’s the exact vision of the director or artist, what the texture of the doll should be, which parts will be visible to the public and so on.

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A. K. I would add that the constructor should learn how to handle the dolls himself too in order to understand them well. When I’m able to control a puppet, I know the actor will be as well.

J. G. There were times when actors couldn’t operate the dolls that Algis made. Then Algis takes the puppet, shows how it should walk and says “what’s the problem”?

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J. G. We had cases when the artist saw the doll that has just been made and sent it back, or there’s miscommunication between him and the doll maker, resulting in the wrong size of the puppet. Some dolls come to life easily while others require many adjustments and still aren’t able to “stand on their legs”.

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A. K. A few actors that have been here for a long time have never learned how to use some of the dolls.

Marionettes are probably the most complicated – I saw one that was controlled by 47 strings at a Japanese play in Vilnius. Puppeteering is a craft that’s passed on from generation to generation in Japan – the representatives of those theatres say that coming there to work for five years would only give you the basics of their art.

Did you ever feel as if the personality of the puppet or the character of it that you had in mind while making it is totally different from what the performer creates?

J. G. Not really, we’re talking to the actors at all times. Slowly, the character of the doll becomes clearer, with discussions about its eyebrows, eyes or walk taking place. Sometimes the director has a few sugges-

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tions, maybe to go back to a previous look or change a subtle detail in the puppet’s temper. There are a lot of nuances. For example, if a doll is looking slightly up (it should be looking at the audience) and the director changes its place on the stage, it might end up observing the lighting staff. We have to make new eyes for it then.

A. K. One time the Kaunas Drama Theatre ordered a 2,5 metres high doll that was supposed to be operated by three actors. We had some troubles in making people believe that the doll is looking both at the audience in the balcony and in the stalls, so we had to redo its head several times. As a constructor, I was also invited to the Latvian National Opera in Riga once: they were struggling to find a person they wanted in the Baltics, and someone recommended us to the Riga folks in Tallinn because Birutė Cvirkienė and I won first prize at the theatre festival there.

So we made giant puppets for them – eight metres tall! Everything was computerised in Riga, so the dolls were operated by special bars… This was a first big work of mine, and I was truly worried that they would just kick me out without paying for my train back. Thankfully, both me and the people at the theatre were happy with the results.

How is the puppet theatre of Kaunas unique compared to other ones?

A. K. I can illustrate the situation.

I went to Moscow to share my experience in this craft and to also sharpen my tools as you say. It became evident pretty soon that I couldn’t learn much from the internationally famous Obraztsov Puppet Theatre.

I don’t want to brag but the Kaunas

staff was much more technologically advanced because we would create four-five plays in a year while the Moscow team worked on one or one and a half. We simply had to improve faster as the schedule was intense. When you’re this busy, you’re solving puzzles of your craft everywhere, at the theatre or lying in bed.

We have to be at the top of our game since Kaunas is such a small city – usually everyone interested in our works just shows up at the premiere.

And that’s it! While in Moscow’s case a new generation has time to grow up during the period that a certain play is being shown: “Don Giovanni” premiered in 1936 and you can still see it today after almost a hundred years. We used to tour a lot before to towns and villages in Lithuania, so one performance could be shown for a longer time; every now and then we take part in festivals or foreign tours. Basically, we need to stage many plays to survive.

Could you disclose any private term or joke used by doll makers?

J. G. Sometimes we offer one another to go take a bath. Usually it’s the place of cleaning or painting, but if a colleague is late, forgets something or behaves badly, we send him or her to the bath as a punishment.

Have you ever created a doll that would remind you of yourself or other people in terms of character or manners?

A. K. Yes, we’ve created the theatre director many times [laughs].

At times the puppets look like the

director yet much more often they feel like the performer that will be handling them. It’s hard to make a doll look like me because of my hair… We’ve made all kinds of dolls throughout the years, except maybe Barbie. Even several respected artists like painter Vitalijus Mazūras used to praise our workshop.

J. G. Well, we’ve also had suggestions to go make cheese or work at a herring factory instead.

A. K. V. Mazūras used to get cross with us if we measured the dolls with a meter. “You can’t measure art with a meter”, he used to say and then cut a piece of clothing with scissors the exact way it should be cut. However, he liked us very much, even telling everyone in Vilnius that the Kaunas team can handle absolutely any task. Once actors from Sweden visited our workshop (later we visited them) – they were astonished when we demonstrated how we make the Pinocchio puppet. One of them asked how many dolls do we have, and I answered him that it’s as many as there are residents in their hometown – around 20,000. We don’t know the exact number, but if we have four or five plays a year and they require 20-40 dolls each…

We’ve also been to international festivals and have been told that our workshop is very advanced and can solve even the most complex technological problems.

J. G. Our team hasn’t changed in years, we’re all in sync with each other. Algis went “on holiday” yet he keeps coming back to help us, consult us. When we need a solution, we invite him over and he visits us with three possible fixes (which he thought of overnight).

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What happens to the dolls after the play?

J. G. They go to our puppet museum! Some dolls are more suitable to exhibit than others, and we keep on changing the exposition. We used to give our puppets to schools, however today we’re trying to collect them and use them of our educational programmes – kids can touch them and play with them. In autumn (September 3rd) we’re organising an annual celebration titled “Į pasakų šalį su fotografu” [“Visiting fairyland with a photographer”], which became quite popular. Using old props, we construct compositions outside that can be captured with a camera. The preparations begin early in the morning: we carry the dolls and the decorations outside and keep looking at the sky…

A. K. …then when it’s all done, it starts raining and we have to bring it all back inside [laughs].

How has this theatre changed over the last decades and where is it going?

A. K. When I joined this theatre, the puppets were all behind a net – like in the old performances at the marketplace. Little by little the dolls made it to the foreground, meaning the actor had the doll in front of him and became visible himself. We need festivals to keep us constantly improving – it’s great to see what other theatres have thought of and to share various innovations.

J. G. The theatre has grown in terms of technology: there are more possibilities now such as the visual projections on the stage, which are

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very much liked by the audience.

If there’s no projection in the play, what are the people supposed to look at [laughs]? It’s just a trend at the moment, however if the visual projection is made artistically and aesthetically – there’s nothing wrong with that.

A. K. During the Soviet years we used to only work with people we kind of knew. It’s great that now we can collaborate with directors or artists from all over the world; some of the visitors stay – Lesia Luchko from Ukraine is already working on her fifth play here.

J. G. Yes, collaborating with the Ukrainians was very interesting; they have their own rhythm and style, usually running things in a very attentive and pedantic fashion.

Doll makers bring over new materials that we would never find in Lithuania – for example, the Ukrainian team brought an isolation substance that’s perfect for replacing foam rubber, it stays fresh for much longer.

What is your dream play to work on?

J. G. We usually fantasise more about artists that we’d like to collaborate with, artist that would bring new ideas or technologies rather than think about concrete plots, tales or plays.

Which play does the public love most?

J.G. “Zuikio kaprizas” [“Whim of the rabbit”] is very much liked if we’re talking about older plays – the actors communicate with the youngest au-

How do modern kids react to a classic puppet play?

J. G. The audience is usually very happy. Many people thank us after.

A. K. One teacher stated that our dolls are horrific and we should go to the “Merkurijus” store to check out

the pretty Barbie dolls for inspiration. So, everyone understands our creations in their own way. There are many children that care about the fate of the hero, they get very enthusiastic about different roles and so on. We’ve shown “Trys paršiukai” [“Three Little Pigs”] in Finland once, which has a scary wolf appear in front of the audience and ask everyone where the piglets are hiding.

Kids pointed to a different direction in order to trick the wolf. It’s fantastic to see children living the play.

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dience members a lot. As for newer performances, “Pelenė” [“Cinderella”] is the most popular one. We stage plays for different age groups of children but we have worked on pieces for adults as well.

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Solving the cultural memory puzzle

By Ina Pukelytė Photos from the author’s archive

The success of “Sulamita” led to establishing a formal fellowship of Jewish music and drama, which was responsible for staging a few more pieces by A. Goldfaden in Kaunas. At one point the organisation had 500 members who rented the Town Hall for plays, concerts, celebrations and various public readings.

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The first mention of Jewish theatre in Kaunas can be found in the memoirs of Leyba Kadison at the beginning of the 20th century. She was the daughter of the Vilner Trupe [Vilnius troupe] founder yet was originally from Kaunas. A singing community of Kaunasian youngsters turned their attention to Yiddish music – including the famous operettas like A. Goldfaden’s “Sulamita” into the repertoire was what prompted the formation of theatre in Kaunas, followed by a choir, an orchestra, decorations and a number of actors.

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Isidor Elyashev – a literature critic and writer working under the pseudonym Bal-Makhshoves [Man of Thoughts] – was responsible for introducing the new repertoire of this Yiddish fellowship. After returning to Kaunas, he was working at the daily newspaper Jidiše štime [Jewish voice] and was the author of

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many articles on literature, art, the relationship between Lithuanians and Jews. In 1920, two most known Yiddish troupes visited Kaunas: the one with Ester Rachel Kamińska from Warsaw running it and the previously mentioned Vilner Trupe.

A bit earlier several members of the Vilnius-based Yiddish Folk Theatre were residing in Kaunas, and one of them – Leonid Sokolov – founded a Jewish drama theatre here. The establishment was active right up until 1924, with plays being staged at the former folklore centre (15 Lukšio street; the building was brought down when Birštonas street was being widened). Professor Arkadijus Presas wrote about the repertoire and acting of that troupe, reviewing the first five plays of the 1923 fall season – Sholem Aleichem’s “It’s hard being a Jew”, Gordin’s “A forced father”, “Promise” and “The knowledge tree”, Osip Dimov’s “Yoshke the Musician”. The professor wrote that the main male roles were usually played by Ruben Vendorff or David Michailov, both of which were compared to the best French actors for their deep understanding of the characters and the subtle portrayals. Reviewing “It’s hard being a Jew”, A. Presas noted that not all artists could grasp the works of Sholem Aleichem and therefore they parodied the plot unnecessarily. This time even the scenography and makeup took some hard blows: “Rags and cloths where walls should’ve been, and the fireplace seemed like it has just survived an earthquake. The make-up was just horrible, with Lady Sora looking like Lady Macbeth of the last act while the supposed stockbroker Katz could be misidentified as a chimney sweeper, not to mention the moustache of Mr Shapiro growing not entirely in the right area of the face”.

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1928 saw the Yiddish theatre reaching more popular grounds, when the same David Michailov founded the New Jewish Theatre, with both Lithuanians and Jews going to the State Theatre to see the plays along with the President and Prime Minister themselves. Lithuanian press praised the works, especially the editor-in-chief of 7 meno dienos – Borisas Dauguvietis, who urged the government to support Jewish artists financially. Audiences of Kaunas loved Yiddish plays, however such troupes had to keep touring the provinces to earn enough money to survive, having up to 14-15 performances a month.

A Hebrew studio was also an important part of the process, initiated in 1922 and becoming more recognised from 1926 to 1931, with alumni of the Moscow Art Theatre running it – Michael Gor, Andrius Oleka-Žilinskas, Viktor Gromov. Unlike the Yiddish plays which aimed to be more leisure-aimed, these works worked towards achieving serious artistic goals. Also, the Hebrew language had a mission to bring the scattered Jewish diaspora together – many graduates of this studio went on to create Hebrew performances in Palestine.

1931 was a golden year, having in mind that the State Theatre was visited by 83,832 people and the Jewish theatres by 90,632. The brilliant work of such stars like Rudolf Zaslavsky, Menachem Rubin, Zygmunt and Jonas Turkow, Ida Kaminska, Diana Blumenfeld were the main reason behind such tremendous popularity. The performances took place not only at the folklore centre or the State Theatre but also at the hall of Ateitininkai, the former café Miramar or the Summer Theatre. Local entrepreneurs like Gabrielius Lanas

The intensive programmes were stopped in June of 1941 – many artists were gone due to the Holocaust, forcing Jewish theatre to cease to exist as a historical phenomenon. Only after more than two decades of Lithuanian independence, we’re seeing the cultural memory of Jewish history being brought back to the surface. Bella Shirin, an ambassador of the Kaunas 2022 project, is definitely

one of the main pieces of this new cultural memory puzzle: she’s reviving the intercultural history of the Interwar years as well as the Soviet period. The play-dinner “Shalom, Bellissima!” allows people to raise emotional and often painful questions about the relationship between Lithuanians and Jews, the connection Litvaks have to their homeland, the wish to become part of the Lithuanian culture again. Can Bella’s dream to bring Litvaks and Lithuanians closer come true? Every one of us has to answer that personally.

A book “Žydų teatras tarpukario Lietuvoje” [“Jewish theatre in Interwar Lithuania”] by Dr Ina Pukelytė of Vytautas Magnus University will soon hit the bookshops, while the play “Shalom, Bellissima!” will be shown on September 27-28th, October 6-7th, 12th and 27th at the Theatre club (22 Vilnius street, Architects’ House, 2nd floor, Kaunas). , Prof. Arkadijus Presas. 1939. Lietuviškai. Antra dalis. Manuscript in: LNMMB, F1-657, p. 65.

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(pressman, ex-head of the City Theatre) and his younger colleague Borisas Bukancas were taking care of the famous artists’ tours with the help of a Kaunas-based artist Sofija Erdi and also Rachelė Berger, who moved here after 1936, originally being from Romania. The latter one, much like the Lithuanian actress Ona Rymaitė, was one of those rare women who succeeded in holding an upper-management theatre position during the Interwar years. R. Berger became the director of the Jewish Theatre of Lithuania and had this job until 1940. When the Soviets occupied Lithuania, Jewish theatres were “nationalised”.

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Democracy, terrorism and councils: the untheatrical roles of theatre

By Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis

A spring-like Monday evening of May 1929 brought dressed up Kaunas folks to Laisvės Avenue to witness one of the most significant musical events of those days: composer Alexander Glazunov chose Kaunas as a stop during his European tour. The concert should have started at 8:30 pm, and ten or fifteen minutes to show time the car of Augustinas Voldemaras – Prime Minister – parked next to the city gardens. No one had any suspi-

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cions that something that would later be referred to as an act of terror was about to happen – three men of radical views were marching towards the theatre entrance; they were armed with pistols and explosives. The life of the Prime Minister was saved by lieutenant Pranas Gudynas, who sacrificed his own one, and also the theatre building itself – Voldemaras hid behind the structure to avoid the last shots that could’ve been fa-

Presidential foyer. 7 Meno Dienos, 1930 #57.

Fire in the theatre, 1931. Photo by Veronika Šleivytė © Kupiškis museum of etnography

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At the end of the 19th century, the governorate that initiated the construction of the building had absolutely no clue that thirty years later destiny would turn it into one of the essential locations for the new country that was about to be created.

When Kaunas became the temporary capital, the 440-seat theatre was used not only as a main cultural cradle but also as the largest conference hall for official state events and formal celebratory occasions. While the building wasn’t fit to become the visual symbol of a temporary capital, it was certainly a critical part of the country’s life and a solid monument of that time period.

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tal. Once again the state theatre of the time became part of an important moment in Lithuanian history.

The initial major role the state theatre building played was when Vilnius was still the factual capital: December of 1918 saw the first democratic election of Kaunas municipality, and the opening session of the city council that the people elected took place here before Christmas.

Aistė Lazauskienė, a political historian, provides an interesting fact which shows the early troubles of democracy: two councils began working at the same time – the mentioned democratic one and the one of the representatives of Bolsheviks, which started its session the day before. The city council became united only after Kaunas developed into a political centre of Lithuania, and soon the theatre was seen as a kind of democratic incubator of the whole country, with the freely elected Constituent Assembly of Lithuania having their first solemn session here in 1920.

There were plans to build a new state cultural centre in the beginning of the 1920s: the Kaunas fellowship

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of Lithuanian artists was trying to promote their idea of a “Tulip house”, where the current theatre building would be turned into a representative hall capable of hosting 1,500 people – “a place for Lithuanian opera and drama to blossom”. Several years went by and the “Tulip house” was gone from the public discourse, while the old theatre building was being prepared for its new status: due to the work of Mykolas Songaila and Vladimiras Dubeneckas, it was enlarged and modernised in a technical sense following the recommendations of German specialists. The exterior received a Baroque makeover yet it gave respect to interpreting the national style. After the opening, the press was filled with remarks about the lousy construction; Songaila stated that the building was already in use before the necessary constructional works were finished. Without paying attention to completing the works, the cultural processes were still taking place, and the drama and opera theatres – which were active since 1920 and gave a start for professional Lithuanian acting – were merged into one, the state theatre.

It was not only the construction of the theatre that was under attack: the fireproofing standards were not up to date by a long shot – this resulted in insurance companies turning away, while the technical rooms were deemed far too small and even unhygienic. Many professionals of opera, drama and ballet couldn’t work all together in the same relatively tiny building, therefore the second reconstruction was started in 1930, and Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis was the architect chosen to fix the problems. The area that’s not visible to the audience was expanded, this way making all artists being able to coexist comfortably.

The 1930s brought more and more activities to the theatre, and talks about buying the Metropolitain cinema were very loud by 1935. This idea came to life much later, after the general nationalization of property and real estate. Despite the number of performances and visitors growing rapidly, the theatre remained to be the main representative space for official state events.

This, of course, meant that the building witnessed some of the darker moments of history as well: a very unusual political play took place here in 1940 – those who favored the USSR were assembled as part of The People‘s Seimas to pass a resolution about Lithuania “voluntarily” joining the Soviet Union. The representatives were only invited over to make the process seem democratic, because the decision had been already made in Moscow. Barely a decade ago this place was the crib of Lithuanian democracy, and on that day the theatre became an independent republic’s final destination.

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Augustinas Voldemaras

The sunny afternoon of May 14th in 1931 was disturbed by a thick column of smoke over the city – the news about the fire at the theatre spread quickly. The economic damage was around a million litas, which is a tremendous amount keeping in mind that the second reconstruction cost 700,000 litas. Thankfully, the bigger part of the building was saved by the metal barrier designed

by Landsbergis-Žemkalnis especially for accidents like these: the barrier separates the audience from the technical area in about 20 seconds.

A storage room for decorations – the place where the fire started – was behind the new barrier too. The building was insured by that time, so traces of the fire were being dealt with quite promptly, performances could already take place here after a week and a half. A few defects in the working methods of Kaunas firefighters became clear thanks to this event, so in a way this accident helped to improve the city’s fire-security.

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Our trips to M. Valančiaus street became more frequent, and the more observant readers might’ve noticed that. This time we had the pleasure to visit the gallery “Nyčės ūsai” [“Moustache of Nietzsche”] before it officially opened.

The address of the gallery that became this month’s “Merkurijus” (it’s where we showcase Kaunastic goods of design and art) is 1 Pilies street.

Real estate developers Etapas were the ones to invite the newcomer gallery here, promising no rent fees for a year. Etapas believe that business and art have to support one another as their friendship is beneficial for the city in many ways.

Elzė Hoogduijn, a photographer, and her Dutch husband Adriaan Hoogduijn, who’s running a business in Kaunas with his colleagues, are behind the whole idea. They believe every house deserves affordable art and beautiful, quality things for

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daily rituals, so “Nyčės ūsai” introduces works by artist from Lithuania – photos, paintings, design objects, jewellery. But why Nietzsche and why his moustache, you might ask?

“Thinking about the gallery’s name and logo had us going back to Friedrich Nietzsche’s moustache as it’s probably the most impressive one we’ve come across. In general, the moustache of Nietzsche serves as a perfect symbol of art integrated into everyday life”, Elzė and Adriaan note upon inviting us to the opening on September 9th. The following page of “Merkurijus” shows the very first exhibits of the gallery.

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Photo manipulation “Green: Nebula Brass” from the series “Intimate Cosmos”, 120 x 115 cm (Benas Navanglauskas)

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Photo manipulation “Yellow: Nebula EG” from the series “Intimate Cosmos”, 120 x 90 cm (Benas Navanglauskas)

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Photo manipulation “Purple: Dancing” from the series “Acid is Sweet”, 74 x 118 cm (Benas Navanglauskas) €500 concepto-boii.format.com

Tired from commercial affairs, B. Navanglauskas finds rest in fine art and street photography. His series “Intimate Cosmos” is an exploration of photography’s outskirts, using the fundamentals of this craft – materials sensitive to light, photochemistry and light itself. “Acid is Sweet” is composed of polaroid photos that have been manipulated physically – photographic elements interfere with fire, water and find collaboration in the tangible environment that’s about to leave its grounds in the image.

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“Celsius 273” jewellery (Gerda Liudvinavičiūtė)

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€24-42 facebook.com/CELSIUS273C Gerda Liutvinavičiūtė creates cement jewellery or, in other words, city architecture that fits inside your hand: “I’m all about textures. Diverse, monotonic or quirky ones. White or black, the uneven shades repeat themselves in grey spaces. I’m like the city – full of contrasts, tearing down and creating bridges between different thoughts”. The jewellery made from cement clicks perfectly with the photo series “Concrete paradise” at “Nyčės ūsai”.

Photo from the series “Concrete paradise”, 60 x 55 cm (Elzė Hoogduijn) €115 (frame included) facebook.com/ ElzePhotography

During their trip around Switzerland, Elzė and Adriaan Hoogduijn used to come back to a small town of Monte Carraso, where architect Luigi Snozzi implemented his concrete fantasies a few decades ago in order to make this somewhat remote region of the Alps feel closer to Zurich or Milan. Pilgrims of minimalistic architecture visit this destination often, while the concrete paradise can be seen in Lithuania with the help of this photo series.

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Calendar Sunday, 09 03, 13:30

Play: “Princesės gimtadienis” (The Birthday of a Princess”)

Tuesday, 09 05, 18:00

Sugihara Week: Concert of Classical Music

VMU Music Academy, V. Čepinskio g. 5

The 60th season of the theatre will start before the curtain rises; Join a puppet parade on midday at the City garden!

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Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, Laisvės al. 87A

Tuesday, 09 05, 20:45

Movie: “Teacher”

Kaunas cinema centre Romuva, Kęstučio g. 62 The principal of an elementary school calls a special parents meeting after it’s alleged that the seemingly empathetic and kindly-looking teacher Mrs. Drazděchová uses her students to manipulate their parents. Although this confidently-directed drama is set in the era of late Czechoslovak Normalization, the multifaceted study of pathological manipulation has universal applicability.

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Participants: Machiko Takahashi (flute), Yurina Arai (violin), Reina Shibutani (violin), Aki Maeda (piano), Kotryna Kaklauskaitė (piano).

Wednesday, 09 06, 16:00

European Days of Jewish Culture: “Faces and names: Jewish musicians in Kaunas“

M. and K. Petrauskas Lithuanian music museum, K. Petrausko g. 31

September The afternoon will be dedicated to the memory and legacy of our fellow Kaunasians that is inseparable from the Lithuanian music history. A pop-up exhibition about Litvak musicians in Kaunas will be accompanied by a live music performance.

Thursday, 09 07, 12:00

Sugihara Week: Japanese Kites Festival J. Dobkevičiaus g. 7

The traditional kite festival will take place at the J. Dobkevičius Progymnasium. Participants: Wadaiko Daigen-gumi, etc.

Thursday, 09 07, 19:00

Yachtsman Day Kaunas Lagoon

Thursday, 09 07, 21:30

Open-air cinema: “Raving Iran” Kaunas Castle field

Two DJ‘s in Tehran are battling to play the music they love and set up dance parties. Local regime does not look well at harbingers of western culture of decay so the protagonists need to do big decisions.

09 08 – 09 10

Kaunas city fair Laisvės alėja

A full-on traditional market will occupy one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe; The featuring theme of this year’s fair is ‘Tasting the World’, which means you should leave your house extremely hungry.

Friday, 09 08, 18:00

Žaliakalnis Market Theatre Festival: “Viskas įskaičiuota” (All-inclusive)

Žaliakalnis market, Zanavykų g. 25H

The Lithuanian Yacht Club was officially established on Sept 7th, 1921; the day has been called the Yachstman Day for some time now. Everyone’s invited to join the yacht parade.

The modern dance and circus performance was born in Žaliakalnis market. It will fill the evening with philosophical questions about life, happiness and the search for fulfilment in our constantly rushing world.

Culmination of the performance will be a dish that’ll be cooked for almost 6 hours in the Lithuanian restaurant “Višta Puode”, which will conquer the hearts of the audience by the simple and childhood reminiscence-inducing taste.

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Calendar Friday, 09 08, 20:00

Zoo night

Lithuanian Zoo, Radvilėnų pl. 21 What does a zoo look like at night?

How many secrets hide out there?

Don’t be afraid of lions - there’ll be an experienced guide that’ll lead you through the dark alleys.

Friday, 09 08, 23:00

Palm disco: Bad Boy Baader (DE) Lizdas Club, Nepriklausomybės a. 12

Friday, 09 08, 21:00

Season launch night

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Lemmy Club, Girstupio g. 1

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Mario Moretti and Elboe are the two DJs that have recently relocated to Kaunas from the capital. They also brought palmtrees and have invited a friend from Germany.

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Saturday, 09 09, 11:00

Opening: Nyčės ūsai Nyčės ūsai, Pilies g. 1

After a couple of months of holidays well deserved, the liveliest place in town is back with two performances in one night. Meet McLoud (Vilnius) and Cerber (Poland).

Friday, 09 08, 22:00

Live: Z On A

Džem‘pub, Laisvės al. 59

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The youngest gallery in town invites you to talk art, life and Kaunas.

Sounds like the best Saturday morning in September.

September Saturday, 09 09, 17:00

Play: “Žydroji paukštė” (“The Blue Bird”) Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71

The allegorical tale by a Nobel prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck introduces us to a dark Christmas night.

Two children are in search of the Blue Bird and the path leads them through fantastic worlds.

one invites you to a closing party.

The Kaunas Artists’ house wants to celebrate their first-after-the-relaunch season just one last time, together with live performances by Migloko, Strings of Earth Orchestra and Jim & Sam Saturday, 09 09, 21:00

Žaliakalnis Market Theatre Festival: “(G)Round Zero”

Žaliakalnis market, Zanavykų g. 25H

Saturday, 09 09, 14:00

Live: “Jazz Street” by Kaunas Jazz Even though the original festival takes place in Spring, Autumn deserves some live jazz, too. Bands will perform in Vilniaus street and a stage in Laisvės alėja will be dedicated to dancers of all kinds.

Saturday, 09 09, 19:30

Žaliakalnis Market Theatre Festival: “Indeed” Žaliakalnis market, Zanavykų g. 25H

The festival invites you to discover the market through sounds of the music and to dive together into the enjoyment and charm of the melodies by accordion quartet “Indeed”.

Saturday, 09 09, 20:00

Season closing night

Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56 While the season is starting in most of the culture hubs around town, this

“(G)round zero” is a performance combining street and contemporary dance in the search of new expressions for movements and its dictionary. “(G) round zero” is a duo of two men, a performance of dominant energy which evokes energy, fight, competition and game.

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Calendar Thursday, 09 14, 18:00

009 15 – 09 17

Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al.71

Various locations

Play: “Žalgirės”

This is a comedy about an amateur women basketball team the members of which are all united by one goal getting into the amateur basketball Olympics in Alaska.

Concerts, shows, culinary workshops, lectures, dinners and business meetings will all form the programme of a 3-day long fiesta celebrating Italian culture and its connections with Lithuania.

09 15 – 11 30

09 15 – 09 17

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Various locations

CREATurE Live Art: International Performance Art Festival

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POST gallery, Laisvės al. 51A

The 11th Kaunas Biennial THERE AND NOT THERE will question the notion of monument: what, when and why should a monument be or not be. Its curator Paulina Pukytė has invited artists from Lithuania, Germany, Slovenia, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Poland to make site-specific installations for Kaunas. The grand opening of the biennial will be held at the Vienybės square on Sept 15th.

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Change and challenge, a global one, is one of the things that has inspired this year’s theme at CREATurE Live Art. How is performance art dealing with great challenges to the human existence, such as humiliating regimes of oppression, cynical destruction of culture and arts, denial of main liberties, such as freedom to move, freedom of speech, freedom of thought? What strategies in visual arts are applied once all of this is changed again – by a new state of thought, by a new political design, by a new regime, maybe the one of freedom?

Friday, 09 15, 19:00

Live: MOVO

Combo live music club, Raudondvario pl. 107

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September Friday, 09 15, 18:00

Saturday, 09 16, 10:00

Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A The cult classics of brutal dark comedy from Martin McDonagh, the master of the horror-comedy, poses unanswerable questions, such as, can stories hold the power to cause atrocities? Directed

by Gintaras Varnas.

Park Inn by Radisson Kaunas, K. Donelaičio g. 27

After three successful events in Vilnius, the plant-based food fair Vegfest LT is finally coming to Kaunas.

Farmers, manufacturers and traders of all things vegan will gather in Park Inn by Radisson hotel.

Friday, 09 15, 23:00

Saturday, 09 16, 13:00

Play: “Pagalvinis” (“Pillowman”)

“Nacht: Antigone (FR)”

Lizdas Club, Nepriklausomybės a. 12

Plant-based food fair Vegfest LT

Šančiai parade: The Chair A. Juozapavičiaus pr.

The communities of Kaunas are all invited to take part in the inaugural parade of Šančiai the topic of which is a chair. Just take one and come to the main street.

Friday, 09 15, 16:00

Free walking tour: “The Stories Towers Tell“

Sugihara House, Vaižganto g. 30

Antigone, an electronic music artist from France, will colour up your night with his technical mixing technique.

Do you know the way to the Owls Hill?

What about the colour of the roofs in Laisvės alėja? Let’s take another look at Kaunas; a panoramic one this time.

We promise you a bunch of secret stories and a route through the most interesting alleys of the city. The walking tour is part of The European Heritage Days celebrated all over the continent in September.

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Calendar Monday, 09 18, 18:00

Open lecture: “New Approaches to Arts Programming: Branded Series and Formats”

Alan Brown is a leading researcher and management consultant in the nonprofit arts industry. His work focuses on understanding consumer demand for cultural experiences and helping cultural institutions, foundations and agencies see new opportunities, make informed decisions and respond to changing conditions. Brown was invited to Kaunas by the team of Kaunas 2022 and will be happy to share his insights with the culture crowd.

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VMU, V. Putvinskio g. 23, Room 106

Tuesday, 09 19, 19:00

Kaunas Hockey: Meet & Greet

Vero Coffee House, Maironio g. 7

95 years ago, the first official ice hockey match in Lithuania was played right here in Kaunas. The new Kaunas Hockey team is aiming to bring back the victories to the city. Come and say hi!

09 19 – 11 04

Vitrum Balticum festival Various locations

Vitrum Balticum is the international handmade glass art exhibition of the Baltic and Nordic countries. This traditional biennale exhibition is organized to represent the art of glass in the Baltic countries, highlighting the creative developments, unfolding new aspirations of artists. This continuous, high volume project enables Lithuanian viewers and artists to get acquainted with the innovative glass-reinforced plastic art, created by the artists in the Baltic countries and with the possibilities of its usage.

Tuesday, 09 19, 19:00

Play: “Mano Instrukcija” (My instruction) Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

Directed by Eimantė Urmonaitė, the play is a theatrical lab where the documents and written texts intertwine with elements of circus, performance and acting.

Wednesday, 09 20, 18:30

Movie: “Šventasis” (Saint)

Forum Cinemas Kaunas, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 49

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September Praised in the national Lithuanian cinema awards, “Šventasis“ focuses on a regular guy called Vytas who’s been fired and seeks comfort in the bed of the mistress and in the company of friends.

The FThe physical comedy is based on Patrick Süskind’s book bearing the same name. It focuses on rather comical day ruined by a simple dove.

Thursday, 09 21, 18:00

Play: “YOLO”

Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

Wednesday, 09 20, 19:00

Play: “Balandis” (Dove)

“Šelteris”, Culture centre “Tautos namai”, Vytauto pr. 79

Arnis Aleinikovas, the mastermind behind YOLO, states the show is unique because all of the people die in the end. A lot of things become unimportant when you know you’ve only got 2 more hours to live.

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Calendar 09 21 – 09 23

International folklore festival “Suklegos 2017”

Culture centre “Tautos namai”, Vytauto pr. 79 / Kęstučio g. 1

educational programmes, hosting excursions and a brand new play, as well as opening a new exhibition.

Wednesday, 09 27, 18:30

Play: “Shalom, Bellissima!”

The festival focuses on a contemporary approach to folklore; the programme presents music that can be framed as folk jazz, post folk, world music, new age or modern folk.

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Theatre Club, Vilniaus g. 22

Saturday, 09 23, 11:00 – 16:30

Bella Shirin, ambassador of “Kaunas 2022”, shared her life story with Ina Pukelytė (read her article on Jewish Theatre in Kaunas in this very issue) and it turned out to be a great basis for a new play. The story of a single family lets us understand more about the history of Kaunas and its people in general.

09 29 – 10 01

Festival: Area Various locations

Happy Birthday, M. K. Čiurlionis

M. K. Čiurlionis gallery, V. Putvinskio g. 55

The famous artist would have turned 142 this year. The birthday of the legend will be celebrated by presenting three new

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The organizers behind the music festival have planned the shows in three different locations of Kaunas, the first being Kaunas Artists’ house, also one of the venues of KTU and Lizdas club.

The artist that represents the values and ideas of the organizers the best is Franck Vigroux. His heavy sound structures tend to vary from modern classics to noise and industrial.

September Friday, 09 29, 18:00

Operette: “Misteris X”

Kaunas State Musical Theatre, Laisvės al. 91 “The Circus Princess” by Imre Kálmán was first staged in the theatre in 1995; the new version was rewritten to push the plot quite far from the Russian aristocracy of the beginning of the 20th century. The scenography of the new version is based on the steampunk movement.

The dance theatre will present the newest trends and biggest stars of today’s contemporary dance world in various stages of Kaunas; the festival will be held for 27th time.

Thursday, 10 05, 09:00

Creative innovation festival “Supernova”

Hospitality complex “Monte Pacis”, T. Masiulio g. 31

Friday, 09 29, 18:00

Play: “Broken Jar”

Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71 The stage will be taken over by Telavi Vaja-Fhavela, the oldest drama theatre of Georgia, which will perform a comedy about a sinful judge who’s involved in his own case.

10 05 – 10 08

International Dance Festival “Aura 27” Various locations

The second creative industry festival will be combining digital innovations and local creative industries to generate generate global collaborations. It is a unique event for the city, business and creative professionals to learn about the global innovations and possibilities in today’s knowledge economy.

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“ Doubt is the enemy of creativeness“

Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938) Actor, director, teacher

KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE Monthly magazine about personalities and events in Kaunas (free of charge)

Laisvės al. 59, third floor

Editorial office:

Authors: Anton Nabolotnyj, Artūras Bulota, Donatas Stankevičius, Edvinas Grin, Eglė Šertvyčūtė, Ina Pukelytė, Julija Račiūnaitė, Karolis Lapačinskas, Kipras Šumskas, Kotryna Lingienė, Kęstutis Lingys, Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis, Tautė Bernotaitė, Teodoras Biliūnas, Viltė Žumbakytė Patrons:

KAUNO MIESTO SAVIVALDYBĖ

RUN 100010COPIES. TIRAŽAS 000 EGZ.

ISSN 2424-4465

Leidžia: Publisher:

2017 Nr. 9 2 (25) (18)