The debut of the actress Aldona Vilutytė in a one-man show, based on the work of the Nobel laureate loved by readers | Culture

This book by O. Tokarczuk published in Lithuanian in 2019 (translated by Vyturys Jarutis, Lithuanian Writers’ Union Publishing House) is an impressive journey through time and space, through the layers of the outer and inner world. The novel narrates different experiences linked by the idea of ​​constant movement as life energy.

Olga Tokarczuk 2019 became the first Polish prose writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The award is for “narrative imagination that portrays transcendence as a form of life with encyclopedic passion.”

As the author writes in Bēgūnai, “it is possible to see the world only fragmentarily, there will be no other way. There are moments, fragments, temporary configurations, which, as soon as they are formed, immediately disintegrate once more. Life? There is no such thing to see; I see lines, planes, bodies and how they change over time. And time seems like an elementary device for measuring small changes, a school ruler with a simplified scale – it has only three divisions: was, is and will be.”

Laura Vansevičienė’s photo/actress Aldona Vilutytė’s one-man performance “Bėgūnė”

The creators of the show focus on one person – Bēgūne. The themes of “Bēgūne” unfold through the intimate presence of one woman with herself trying to grasp the thinking, which, although finite, inevitably changes, opening up to ever new experiences. She, the Runner, moves from one point to another, being an invisible observer of the world and learning to accept herself in its constant change.

Actress A. Vilutytei got her hands on the novel “The Fugitives” during the pandemic, when “the environment and our bodies were stagnant, and all life, all actions, travels and research took place in our heads. This is also the harmony of my generation, my age, worldview, topics and experiences that are close to me. When you are a middle-aged woman, you become invisible to many, you can choose to be an observer. Empathy and attention to everyday details are born.” According to the actress, this performance is risky and new for her, looking for ways to open the world in her mind and name it.

Laura Vansevičienė’s photo/actress Aldona Vilutytė’s one-man performance “Bėgūnė”

J. Kuprevičius, a young director resident at the Youth Theater, notes that the biggest creative challenge was to adapt a very literary novel for the stage, traveling through everyday life to being: “The thoughts of the text lead to a certain metaphysics, but this one is very close to reality, closer than usual… Such was an initial impression, which then turned into a desire to transfer such literature, some of which at first glance might not be completely suitable for the theater, to the stage using theatrical means. How do you do that when creating a one-man show, how do you convey it to one actor?”

A. Vilutytė, who is creating a one-man play for the first time, says that she felt that “the time has come to take on more difficult tasks, without being afraid to take risks and experiment.” It is unusual to act alone on stage and choose material that is not specifically for the theater. I felt the specifics of the one-man show very much during the rehearsals. No partners. It’s me, the text and the director’s tasks. Everything. A one-man show is like a professional confrontation, a test.”

Laura Vansevičienė’s photo/actress Aldona Vilutytė’s one-man performance “Bėgūnė”

Actress A. Vilutyte is creatively supported by a team of young artists: scenographer Šarūnas Tadijošaitis, composer Gabrielė Dikčiūtė, light movement consultant Vesta Grabštaitė, author of video projections Pijus Chraptavičius.

The performance “Bēgūnė” is implemented in the Youth Theater’s continuous program of promotion of young artists “Black Box” and continues the theater’s creative direction “Literature in the theater alive”, dedicated to the stage interpretations of outstanding classical works from contemporary literature.