William Shakespeare's well-known play Richard III tells the story of the rise and fall of the ruthless, manipulative Duke of Gloucester. The play reflects topics that are particularly relevant to today's world - Machiavellian politics and principles of governance, the consequences of unstable, ruthless and inconsistent governance, the ability to manipulate others with the help of rhetoric and speech (propaganda). The team of the upcoming performance will raise important ethical and philosophical questions: is evil innate or cultivated? Why are people often fascinated and attracted to villainous characters and their actions? Are we using language productively when talking about today's events, why is it becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish reliable sources of knowledge? Hasn't the aggressor's straightforward and primitive propaganda become a more powerful tool than western diplomatic rhetoric?

​

According to the philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who spoke extensively about the ongoing war in Ukraine many times in various publications and interviews, at the moment it is possible to see a returning collective tendency to admire acts of violence, to support the violent party and the violent person himself, as a very authentic, heroic figure for these times. Although this idea seems absurd to the states closest to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, according to the philosopher, the policies implemented by Putin are often accepted by the collective consciousness of the West as a counterweight to the capitalist, consumerist, overly diplomatic world allegedly imposed by the United States. According to S. Žižek, Europe has been living in a certain security "bubble" for some time, and currently even the Western mechanisms for ensuring peace often continue the rhetoric of violence: part of the USA and Western European states hold the view that Ukraine cannot win the ongoing war, therefore for peace world leaders should sit down at the negotiating table and find a compromise. Today we observe an ambiguous situation, where the diplomatic and soft resistance of the western world is not only not enough to stop the war, but also raises doubts about the distribution of power positions in the world, where it was firmly believed that the war in Europe could not happen for many more years. According to A. Areima, the director of the future performance, the world and our country are currently going through a particularly significant period when it is necessary to rethink the concepts of freedom, democracy, security, responsibility, and mutual aid, so it is necessary to present and analyze these topics in society as widely as possible.

REVIEWS:

https://menufaktura.lt/naujienos/klaipedos-dramos-teatre-vyksta-pirmieji-nauju-spektakliu-zingsniai/

https://kdt.lt/naujienos/lapkriti-klaipedos-dramos-teatre-pirmieji-nauju-spektakliu-zingsniai/