Lithuanian Grandfathers

Performance as part of the 8th Kielce International Theatre Festival

The show is recommended for viewers from the age of 18. In the performance there are scenes of nudity and violence, smoke is used, gunshots are heard. Language: Lithuanian (subtitles in Polish and English) After the performance there will be a meeting with the creators.

“Dziady Litewskie” — the premiere of Jakub Skrzywanek at the National Drama Theater in Kaunas, based on the drama of Adam Mickiewicz. Taking as a starting point the work of the most famous representative of Polish Romanticism (its II and IV parts, created in Lithuania), depicting the folk customs of the Day of the Dead, the director creates his own contemporary social ritual and explores the history of our sins.

Starting the process of creating a play with a question about our greatest sins, the director first draws attention to the earth. The land, as the territory of Poland and Lithuania, exhausted by wars, occupations and patriarchal aggression since the time of serfdom. Earth, as a fertile host, giving life and at the same time receiving our dead, that is, the medium of the eternal circle of life. Our story is the history of war, and we all live on one great battlefield or grave,” says the director. Aggression and cruelty, rooted in our land, do not disappear anywhere, they are passed on to future generations as an incurable trauma.

In the performance there are scenes with a strong emotional charge, related to the experiences of Lithuania. Although some of the measures used can provoke, offend or arouse fear, emotionally distancing measures are used to counterbalance this, and tension is not always kept high — viewers are given time to calm down. In addition, the very form of the performance and the way it is presented are captivating. Jakub Skrzywanek gives the form of the grandfather ritual the meaning of a therapeutic session, during which the community can face painful experiences, open the wound in an environment where there is no real danger, so that actions can be taken to help heal it. It is clear that silence does not help, because we are the happiest nation, leading in the number of suicides. Austė Žiogaitė, 7md.lt

Each of the miniatures proposed by the director and played on the stage defends itself actorily, choreographically, visually and musically. Each of them could also be made a starting point for a (different) reading of “Dziadów”. (...) “Lithuanian Grandfathers” delight visually, move with the soundtrack that Karol Nepelski created, weaving previously recorded voices of actors into the action of the performance, and hypnotize with the poignant choreography of Agnieszka Kryst. Maria Makaruk, Didaskalia

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