The New Performance “AGATHA” by Solo Theatre is a Piece of Music

On the 7th September, Solo Theatre presented the performance based on Marguerite Duras’ play “AGATHA” (translated by Jurga Vile from French language) which was the premiere of this season. The team included: director Birute Mar, set designer Indre Pacesaite, video artist Karolis Bratkauskas, visual technician Audrius Jankauskas. Performed by the actors Birute Mar and Andrius Bialobzeskis as well as the composer and pianist Giedrius Karaliunas plays live music.

According to the director Birute Mar, she discovered the play “AGATHA” a long time ago, taking an interest in the personality of the French writer Marguerite Duras: “Once upon a time there was such a thing in my life called “The Period of Duras” as I read everything that this writer has published as well as I found other books in English, Lithuanian or Russian. Inspired by her work, I started learning French, and then I saw strange poetic films created by M. Duras herself, which did not seem to fit into any format. I have also discovered her unknown autobiographical play “Agatha” in which I was fascinated by the melody of M. Duras’ speech, the intensity of thought, the “exploding” emotion hiding behind the words.”

Almost a couple of decades ago, the mono-performance “Lover” by Birute Mar was created. The production has travelled to over twenty countries and it is still being performed by the actress. “Agatha” was also waiting its turn: a decade ago, the director offered to translate this play to her friend Jurga Vile: “I really wanted “Agatha” on the stage in Lithuanian language, although I doubted that it would be any popular in Lithuania as it is unusual to hear a French word, or even literary theatre, in which characters constantly talk about what they feel. After all, K. Stanislavski taught that feelings need to be “hidden” behind the action. And in this play, the characters Agatha and her brother talk to each other about their feelings for more than an hour with no apparent action. No storyline development. So, for many, this play may seem quite anti-scenic. Yet I find it interesting. It’s like writing a piece of music about the memories of a brother and sister, and their forbidden love.

I think this production will be something between music and theatre: the thoughts and feelings of the heroes are conveyed by the sounds of the piano, the words and the images of the changing sea on the screen. The sea symbolises a beloved verse of M. Duras, the writer loved to watch the sea, hearing it in her films, her texts, diaries, reflections… There seems to be no action but the intensity is recognized through the poetry of M. Duras. Personally, “AGATHA” is like swimming in the sounds, memories, feelings just like at sea.”

SOLO Theatre performance “UNE” – “Grand Prix” at the International Theatre Festival in Druskininkai (Lithuania)

Birutė Mar festivalyje 2020

In the Lithuanian resort of Druskininkai, the 6th International Theatre Festival “Druskininkai Summer Theatre Crossroad” took place on 5-15 August, 2020. Even though the difficult conditions of the pandemic are still felt, the festival organizers managed to invite guests from Germany and Latvia alongside Lithuanian artists: the theatre “Silver Age” from Riga, the well-known Latvian actor Andris Bulis with the solo performance “Facebook. Life”, the theatre “Boris und Konsorten” (Stuttgart) which presented a performance based on M. Ravenhill’s play “The Product”. The performances of the festival were evaluated by members of an international jury in which Polish theatre critic Andriej Moskvin and Estonian theatre theorist and journalist Eteri Kekelizde joined the team.

Good news: the “Grand Prix” award was won by Solo Theatre with the performance “UNE” (playwright, director and performer Birute Mar).

“The legendary Lithuanian actress Une Babickaite-Baye, according to her diaries, is a personality whose strong creative energy still shines even today. Her life testifies to the meaning of creativity, her diaries radiate the joy of creativity and human wisdom, making you think about the relationship between an artist and a society how it was a century ago and how it is now. It also reminds us to smile when you realise that little has changed…”

The team of Solo Theatre is delighted for having won the Grand Prix at the Druskininkai Festival. Une is on the stage again, this time with a new creative force!

Also read about “UNE” at Druskininkai Festival here:

https://www.obzor.lt/news/n62734.html

BIRUTE MAR WAS AWARDED THE LITHUANIAN GOVERNMENT’S PRIZE FOR CULTURE AND ART 2020

On 9 March 2020, the actress and director as well as the founder of Solo Theatre, Birute Mar, was awarded the Lithuanian Government’s Prize for Culture and Art for merits to Lithuanian culture and art. This award is presented annually to twelve well-known Lithuanian creators in the cultural field.

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INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE OF THE PERFORMANCE “BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC” (05.03.2020)

The team of Solo Theatre visited the FIAF-2020 (Fujairah International Arts Festival) where the international premiere of the play “BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC” based on the novel by Japanese-born American writer J. Otsuka took place on the 21st of February, 2020. One of the largest performing arts festivals in the UAE was organised on 20-28 February, 2020 in Fujairah where over thirty performances and concerts were shown and visited by several hundred guests including stage professionals, journalists from all over the world. The performance “The Buddha in the Attic” of the Lithuanian troupe became an event of the festival as it did not lack the attention of the international press and colleagues. The performance was filmed on Fujairah TV.

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Video from Fujairah TV:

BEST ACTRESS AWARD AT D.TAMULEVICIUTE’S THEATRE FESTIVAL IN VARENA (06.11.2019)

Actress Birute Mar became the winner of the 10th D. Tamuleviciute’s Professional Theatre Festival. The festival jury awarded Birute Mar as the “Best Actress of the Festival” for her roles in the Solo Theatre’s performance “Buddha in the Attic” (author and director Birute Mar herself) based on Julie Otsuka’s novel of the same name. The honourable award was presented to the actress on 28 October, 2019 in Varena Culture Centre during the closing ceremony of the festival. More than 20 professional performances of Lithuanian theatres were shown at the festival which was celebrating 10th-anniversary.

“BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC” – “JAPANESE” PREMIERE OF THE SOLO THEATRE (27.09.2019)

SOLO Theatre welcomes the premiere “BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC” of the new season based on a novel by Japanese-born American writer Julie Otsuka. The performance was presented on 18 August, 2019 in Druskininkai at the international theatre festival “Druskininkai Summer Theatre Crossroads”. On 11 September, the premiere took place in Vilnius at St. Catherine’s Church organised by the Japanese Culture Festival “NowJapan”.  “The Buddha in the Attic” is a story about the fate of emigrants in the painful 20th-century. The play is a reminiscent of today’s emigration, the Holocaust period in Europe, the era of Lithuanian occupation and Siberian exile, when thousands of people were quietly “swept” off the map of Lithuania and the world itself.

The project was funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture


Plačiau apie spektaklį – Aušros Gudavičiūtės interviu su spektaklio režisiere Birute Mar ir choreografe Sigute Mikalauskaite.