Unexplored territories in O.Koršunov’s theater: impossible love, lust, coercion and good versus evil | Culture

According to the director, artistic director of the theater Oskaras Koršunovas, X territories are still unexplored territories. According to him, we live in a society that protects us, but in fact it kind of imprisons us: “There are territories that we leave behind. Which have a lot of white and maybe even bleeding wounds. About which we may think, but do not talk. Such an area X is essentially a theater area. This season, we looked at it conceptually and will make plays about those unspoken, silenced, unknown territories.”

Four premieres are planned

The new season will begin with director O. Koršunov’s play “Ziema” – it will attempt to enter the territory of impossible love. The performance is based on the play of the Norwegian dramatist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Jonas Fosse. According to Aurim Minsevičius, “Ziema” is a story about love, which at first glance seems infinite and inevitable, but X is placed on it by society, in which such love becomes impossible: “This is the story of two people who seem to be made for each other, but he is a prosperous businessman, and she is a woman of free behavior and free views, so they cannot be together.” The director of the play, O. Koršunovas, hopes that the author of the play will also come to the premiere.

There are territories that we leave behind. Which have lots of white and maybe even bleeding wounds.

The second premiere of the season is a performance by director Jakūbs Brazis based on the work of the French writer Georges Bataille, “The Story of the Eye”, which will take you to the territory of murderous lust. As A. Minsevičius tells, after reading the piece, J. Brazys immediately came to his mind: “Only Jakūb can and should build this material. Because it is also close to the aesthetics of his previous performances.” This premiere will present a story about young people who, like a knife’s edge, are maneuvering on the border between sinful debauchery on one side and deep and spiritual experiences on the other.

In the new season, the play “Sinful Saint” by actress Eglė Jackaitė and her team will see the light of day, based on the novel “Marija Egipitietė” by writer Vidmantė Jasukaitytė. According to Aurim Minsevičius, this is a performance about a woman’s survival in a radical patriarchal society full of violence against women: “This is a territory of violence where a woman, who has suffered from external violence and internal dependence all her life, finds the strength to get out of her crisis and choose a radically different direction in life.”

The last premiere of the season is the play “Roberto Zucco” by the young director Jaunias Juodelis, based on the play by Bernard-Marie Koltes. It is also symbolic that 26 years ago O.Koršunovas himself staged a performance based on this play and the history of the OKT theater began with that.

Tours abroad

According to Audra Žukaitytė, OKT’s foreign affairs manager, travel and tours have always been and will remain a part of OKT’s identity: “If we hung up the map, we would see that the territories we have not been to are probably only Africa. We have already carved out all the other continents crosswise and lengthwise.”

Traveling and touring have always been and will remain a part of OKT’s identity.

This season’s theater tour will begin in October in Paris with Kamilė Gudmonaitė’s performance “Holiday”, in which disabled actors also participate. Later, the troupe will go to the Sens Ineterdits festival in Lyon. In November, O. Korshunov’s “Othello” will be presented at the “Les Boreales” festival held in Cannes. All these performances are part of Lithuania’s season in France.

In November, “The Seagull” directed by J. Brazio and staged together with young actors will travel to the “SETT” festival in Stuttgart. In the spring, the theater troupe will go to Tbilisi, where O. Koršunova and Eimantas Pakalka’s “The Madman” will be presented. The audience of the international festival of chamber and mono performances will be able to see this performance.

“Drama Territory”

O. Koršunovas said that the most important creative territory of this season will be the “Drama territory” competition. “The theater needs new dramas, new dramaturgy, new texts. Modern new dramaturgy is not only written texts, but it is also a step into new X territory”, said the director.

The best plays selected by the commission will be staged, and further cooperation with their authors continues.

The aim of this competition is to discover new Lithuanian dramaturgy, to inspire those who no longer write plays, to encourage those who are afraid to show their work in public and those who want to try their hand at it.

At the end of the competition, 3 prize winners will be chosen, who will be awarded prizes established by private sponsors: 1st place – 6000 EUR, 2nd place – 1500 EUR, 3rd place – 500 EUR. O. Koršunovas emphasized that the best plays selected by the commission will be staged, and further cooperation with their authors will continue.