c l o s e / б л и з ь к о
Premiere in 2023 May 5,6th in Alytus City theater
Duration 120 min | N-16
director/set designer: Artūras Areima
playwright: Kristina Marija Kulinič
light artist : Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
light operator : Vilius Kasiulis
choreographer: Marius Pinigis
composer : π
sound operator: Andrius Kairys
starring: Eglė Špokaitė, Modesta Jakeliūnaitė,
Monika Poderytė,Eglė Grigaliūnaitė, Gytis Laskovas,
Šarūnas Datenis, Kristina Marija Kulinič
supported by the Lithuanian Council of Culture
Project partners Alytus City Theater, ARTON
In 2022 in February, when the war in Ukraine started, the director Artūras Areima suggested to the playwright Kristina Marija Kulinič and 7 actors of the young generation (actively delving into the difficult war situation and supporting Ukraine or volunteering) to start a collective creative process and write a play that would present not only a topical, controversial journalistic and documentary material, the works of Ukrainian authors, but also their current experiences as Lithuanian citizens, young witnesses of the war. The creative team is convinced that creativity, despite the fact that it is powerless on the battlefield, is currently the main tool of the artist, a way of expression, a way to deal with psychological health and to respond as adequately as possible to the ongoing catastrophe.
The creative team of the play and the performance has deliberately avoided using authentic (non-poetic) Ukrainian texts, as all creators are united by the belief that it is ethical to speak only about personal experience in the first person - today, unfortunately, the theater is incapable of embodying and conveying cruel, concrete events happening at the present moment human experiences.
The authors of the performance are trying to remind and emphasize that the emotional experiences of people who currently support Ukraine are similar, and the fact that there are various reactions to the ongoing events - from emotional closure to excessive involvement - is normal. Performance "Close" should encourage the viewer to analyze a personal, authentic relationship with the ongoing war, accept and understand negative feelings, but also help to experience all feelings collectively, communally, to feel such an important unity in the current context.
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Poetry authors: Halyna Kruk, Serhij Žadan, Aneta Kamińska, Oksana Lucyšyna, Lesyk Panasiuk, Iryna Šuvalova
Translators: Marius Burokas, Antanas A. Jonynas, Vytas Dekšnys
Other texts authors: Šarūnas Datenis, Kristina Marija Kulinič, Modesta Jakeliūnaitė, Monika Poderytė, Gytis Laskovas, Eglė Grigaliūnaitė, Eglė Špokaitė, Milda Naudžiūnaitė
REVIEWS :
https://menufaktura.lt/?m=1199&s=71282
https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/2000272600/pakeliui-su-klasika-aat-trupes-premjera-arti