The “ConTempo” festival started with premieres and a river of balls that flooded the streets of Kaunas Culture

This year, ConTempo was greeted with the slogan “the world’s stage – up close”, promising to erase the boundaries between the stage and the audience. The artistic event “River of Joy” by the actor and director Paulius Markevičiaus (“Without Company”), which opened the festival, gathered and involved not only a large audience, but also passers-by. Black balls under the influence of gravity, led by several actors, rolled for several hours in the city squares and streets, creating an atmosphere of freedom, wonder and surprise around them.

On Monday evening, two premieres of Lithuanian creators were also held. The art and music department of the Đžuolynas library welcomed the play “Hearts and Chimneys” by the founders of “Psilikon” theater, Auksės Petrulienė and Darius Petrulis and Arkadijas Gotesmans. Live animated puppets, together with archival photographs, video effects and text subtitles created a video projection – a grotesque spectacle accompanied by live music.

The evening was crowned by the Kosmos Theatre’s performance “Dilettant”, which took place in the Kaunas Chamber Theatre, covering the life and work of an extraordinary personality – playwright, poet, painter, draftsman, prose writer, graphic designer, music and even boxing manager Jean Cocteau.

Gintarė Masteikaitė, the head of the festival and the organizer of the program, is happy that the first evening brought together close to a thousand people, including the audience participating in the festival for the first time, as well as ConTempo gourmets, families and seniors. “We heard a lot of laughter, we felt openness from the audience, a desire to get involved in the action. People were surprised by the professionalism and conceptuality of the actors, it’s good that some of them willingly watched all three performances”, G. Masteikaitė shares her first impressions.

Throughout the week, the festival will surprise you with a carefully selected program that includes performances, acrobatic shows, experiential tours, musical numbers and performances for the whole family. Among the participants are not only well-known, appreciated and welcome creators in Lithuania, but also internationally known European performing arts professionals who are coming to Lithuania for the first time. “ConTempo” stages will be located in different spaces of the city and Kaunas district, in spaces not necessarily adapted for performances: in the university gym, shopping center, library, streets and meadows, various squares.

ConTempo audiences are treated to over 30 hours of stage action and plenty of free events next week. Full festival program here.