The actors who conceived the cycle say that they miss the close relationship with the audience and the multi-layered dramaturgy, so they aim for the actor’s voice, emotion and the audience’s imagination to become the most important elements in the readings of drama classics.
“These readings are like eternal clear spring water to refresh yourself in difficult times. We have chosen plays that excite us personally, we believe that they are also worthy of the audience’s time and attention”, says actor Vytautas Rumšas
The actors of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater will take part in the readings. The first work that will be presented to the audience is the late Friedrich Schiller‘s drama Mary Stuart.
“It is a masterpiece of the drama classics, which reveals in an artistic form the influence of a person’s moral choices on history, the eternal dilemmas of love, power, responsibility and freedom,” says actress Dalia Michelevičiūtė, who twenty years ago created the main role of Mary Stuart in the performance directed by Jonas Vaitkaus based on the work of the same name.
The personality of Mary Queen of Scots is of interest to artists and the general public in many ways. This is not only a magnificent ruler, but also a woman of stormy and tragic fate. After spending many years in France, Mary Stuart returns to Scotland, falls in love there and is sentenced. Schiller’s drama presents a phase of her imprisonment in England. Officially, she is imprisoned for the murder of her husband Darnley, but in reality for her claim to the throne of England, which was ruled by Queen Elizabeth I. While Mary’s cousin Elizabeth hesitates to sign her death warrant, Mary hopes to survive and keeps asking for a date. After many pleas, Mary finally gets the chance to meet her cousin Queen Elizabeth (although it never actually happened), but the meeting ends in a heated argument…
The drama “Maria Stuart” was translated from German by Vytautas Bložė. It was on November 24. 4 p.m. Actors Diana Anevičiūtė, Povilas Budrys, Adrija Čepaitė, Rimantas Bagdzevičius, Dalia Michelevičiūtė, Ramutis Rimeikis, Vytautas Rumšas, Arūnas Vozbutas, Algirdas Dainavičius, Šarūnas Rapolas Meliešius will read in the Small Hall of LNDT. During the reading of the play, the audience will be able to see the costumes designed by artist Dalia Mataitienė for Vaitkaus’ performance, and hear the music of composer Algirdas Martinaitis.
The next “Readings: Drama Classics” event is scheduled for 2025. at the end of January – the play “Mažvydas” by Justin Marcinkevičius will be read – the last part of the dramatic trilogy. In February, it is planned to present the work “Sarabanda” by the famous Swedish director and playwright Ingmar Bergman to the public. It is a continuation of his play “Scenes from married life”, based on which the play directed by V. Rumš is shown at LNDT. And in March, the audience will be invited to the 20th century. the reading of “Antigone” by the French dramatist, author of absurd dramas Jean Anouilh.
“What will Mary Stewart sound like today?” How will Mažvydas sound? What will the immortal classic reveal to us about the present? We are happy with the initiative of Vytautas and Dalia to organize readings of these plays. They were not chosen by chance. Close to the theater and actors. Classic, plot dramaturgy is perhaps the most important source of theatrical creativity. She finds ways to actualize herself in the most unexpected ways, once again proving her worth. We have no doubt that this will be the case now as well,” say LNDT art directors.
All readings are nominally priced and tickets are now available for the first event on November 24th.
More information about the series “Readings: drama classics” – on the LNDT website www.teatras.lt
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