Vilnius’ Timeless Theater: Navigating Change in a Russian-Language Landscape

In May of this year, after the Vilnius District Court rejected the complaint of former theater director Olga Polevikova regarding the competition for this position organized by the Ministry of Culture, culture manager and critic A.Imbras was finally appointed as its head for a five-year term.

On Monday, the new management of the Vilnius Old Theater held a press conference, during which they presented the concept of the renewed Old Theater, this season’s premieres, 111th anniversary events and further cooperation projects.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

Multilingual theatre: new genres, languages ​​and directions

A. Imbras, who has been appointed as the permanent director of the theater since July, noted that during the year Viliaus Old Theater made a huge leap and immediately jumped from the 78th season to the 111th. In this way, according to him, one looks back at the theater building itself, its history, cultural and political contexts.

While presenting the essential points of his program, A.Imbras singled out multilingualism. According to him, although currently 29 out of 31 performances in the theater’s repertoire are performed in Russian with Lithuanian subtitles, in the long run the theater will have to have more performances in Lithuanian as well as in Polish.

“We want to spend a lot of time with the audience of our theater, to open up to a new audience, so our performances will be held in various languages, they will also be subtitled not only in Lithuanian, but also in English and Polish. Performances are planned, which will be shown in several languages”, said A. Imbrasas.

According to the director, although the Vilnius old theater has been seen mostly as a drama theater, in the next five years it is planned to significantly expand its variety of genres, and to show dance performances, opera and musical performances on the stage of the theater.

Another innovation is the turning of the theater team to the non-governmental sector and cooperation in the implementation of new productions. According to A.Imbras, new works are planned for the stage of Vilnius Old Theater next year, which will be realized by the theater troupe working together with various independent collectives, other theaters and performing arts institutions.

Among the new directions of the theater are active tours, especially focusing on the southeastern and eastern regions of Lithuania. As the new director of the theater emphasized, the aim will be to take performances as much as possible to the Vilnius region, Šalčininki, Švenčionėlii, Visaginas, Traki and everywhere where other-speaking Lithuanian communities live.

A. Imbras was also happy that this autumn the theater is invited to tour in Paris, where the play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead” will be shown nine times on the national theater stage of France.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

12 premieres – from drama and dance to a jazz concert and baroque opera

Andrius Jevsejevs, the theater’s drama curator, said that when he came to work at this theater and formed the new repertoire, certain gaps became apparent. One of them is large performances that can be staged exclusively in the Great Theater Hall. Meanwhile, the recently opened Small Hall, according to him, “has its own nuances”, but despite this, it is also intended to be used in the new season.

According to A. Jevsejev, as many as 12 premieres are planned for the new season, and by preparing smaller productions, it is expected that this will give the theater more flexibility in organizing tours and thus reaching those audiences that have not been worked with at all until now.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

He noted that the theater audience has already seen the first premiere of this season – Agniaus Jankevičius’s “Reform”. Although the premiere performances were shown in Lithuanian, it is promised that it will be subtitled in Russian and English.

This year, Kristina Marija Kulinič’s play “Good weather if you don’t think too much” will be shown in the Small theater hall, and the premiere of director Raimundos Banionis’ play “Petty marital crimes” will take place in the Great Hall. According to A. Yevseyev, this performance is a tribute to the old theater audience, which had already liked the play “Madame Rubinstein” created by the same director.

According to the dance curator Andrias Katinas, the troupe of this theater is very versatile, capable not only of acting, but also of singing and dancing. In addition to dramatic performances, this season will also present six productions of different art directions.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

“The audience will be able to see a jazz-lindi-hop concert performance, the premiere of a dance performance, a documentary performance about the theater itself, a baroque opera with the legendary conductor Trevor Pinnock, and an installation that will be presented throughout the entire theater space,” said A. Katinas.

The curator of music and opera, Ana Ablamonova, noted that the theater seeks to actively work with the non-governmental sector. It was for this reason that a competition was held and proposals from 17 organizations were received.

“We chose three creative proposals that met the objectives of our program – multidisciplinary and multicultural. Therefore, it will be possible to see Artūrs Areima’s drama performance “Lūšies valanda”, the contemporary circus and theater performance “Grimm’asos” and the immersive theater work “Taksi Vilnius”, A. Ablamonova said.

According to her, the actors of the Vilnius old theater troupe will actively contribute to the production of these works.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

Changes in the repertoire are a theater routine

When asked how the troupe of this theater accepted the new theater concept, A.Imbras said that these are professional actors who are able not only to act, but also to sing and dance, so there should be no problems with the expansion of genre boundaries, according to him.

He also emphasized that most of the actors know the Lithuanian language, and those who don’t speak it well can learn quickly if they want to. According to him, this was perfectly revealed by the first play “Caligula” performed in this theater in Lithuanian this year.

When asked if there are plans to change the theater’s repertoire, A. Imbras noted that reviewing the repertoire is a constant routine of the theater, and for various reasons, the audience will not see approximately five older productions in the new season.

“Once a year, it is customary in theaters to review the repertoire and abandon outdated or less attended performances. In our case, performances were written off that could not be shown due to copyright issues, payments or the dubious reputation of the authors of the performances. We refused such performances back in November,” A. Jevsejev emphasized.

The drama curator emphasized that the management maintains constant relations with the theater troupe, there were many collective and individual meetings where they tried to communicate the new theater concept and future visions.

“Of course, there is everything – sometimes the troupe bubbles and feels anxious. However, this is not so much about the theater program itself, but about the general ignorance about the future. After all, most of those who came to work at the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theater dreamed of acting on the stage of this theater from their childhood. So there is mistrust or caution, but this is apparently determined by the general atmosphere in the entire society”, said A. Jevsejev.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

Renovation of the theater is a boon for society

When the new manager of the Old Theater of Vilnius was asked about the renovation of this theater that was planned a few years ago and later canceled, he emphasized that it is inevitable in the future.

“This theater opened its doors before 1913 and has not been renovated since then. During the Soviet era, necessary works were carried out here – central heating was introduced, other renovations were made. During the period of independence, a minor euro repair was carried out, the walls were painted. And that’s all. This building has not been renovated for 111 years, although it is undoubtedly the most valuable theater building in Vilnius,” said A. Imbrasas.

According to him, the renovation of the building is necessary because the theater itself is equipped according to the understanding of the theater of that time and does not fully meet the needs of the current troupe and audience.

However, the new manager could not say when the renovation of the theater could begin.

Pauliaus Peleckis/BNS photo/Presentation of the 111th season of the Old Theater of Vilnius

“When the actual condition of the theater is assessed, it will apparently be a sop for the public. It is difficult to say when the renovation could take place. There will have to be a serious and responsible political decision here,” said A.Imbras.

He also emphasized that although the previous management of the theater had prepared a renovation project, it will be necessary to review and re-evaluate it.

“This is an open question that sooner or later will have to come,” said A. Imbras.

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