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AMBITION – KLAIPĖDA ON THE MAP OF EUROPEAN THEATRES

“TheATRIUM” began in 2017 and is now a significant event in theatre life not only in Klaipėda, but in Lithuania and the whole Europe.

“TheARTIUM” will start on May 24–28 with one of the most successful projects of Klaipėda Drama Theatre – Lithuanian Theatre Showcase. In 5 days we will present 11 latest performances by Lithuanian creators to foreign guests (theatre art professionals, festival representatives, producers, etc.). This is an important opportunity for them to establish international relations, to be evaluated and noticed by foreign scouts. We are currently waiting for about 40 theatre professionals from all over the world to visit the showcase.

During “TheATRIUM” creative workshops, which have already become a tradition, will take place. This is intensive acting training for professional actors, during which they have the opportunity to work with well-known guests from foreign theatres. This year, the workshop will be conducted by the representatives of “Shinehouse Theatre” (Taiwan).

An international festival programme will take place from June 1 to 22nd. This year, we welcome theatres and performers from Latvia, Taiwan, Great Britain, Belgium and Portugal. After the performances, we will invite the audience to a general conversation with the directors and creative teams of the performances. Meetings of the audience and creators is a festival event that has already proven itself and is becoming a tradition, an informal medium for the exchange of ideas and impressions.

Tomas Juočys

This is my seventh opening speech in “TheATRIUM” Festival. And I am still as excited as I was seven years ago! You know, not many people believed in us then. Even inside the theatre there were doubts. Will we succeed? Who needs that? Will we overcome all the challenges that arise with almost no budget and no support? Seven years later, the answers are very obvious: we have overcome all the difficulties and will overcome them in the future, the festival has succeeded and must succeed – theatre lovers need it. Looking deeper, we can see that “TheATRIUM” helped Klaipėda Drama Theatre become what it is today: provocative, modern-day, constantly moving forward. We have not stopped creating during any crisis or pandemic. And today, when the world is surrounded by darkness, we see only one way out – not to stop, to go forward, to reach for the light. It is our response to the darkness, our struggle against its forces. Changing the world is very difficult, but that does not mean you can give up. We create and believe in the victory of good. We are not disappointed in the era that has happened to us, we accept reality as it is and we believe in freedom. We create and enjoy creation. We invite everyone to “TheATRIUM”, the space for meetings and communication, we invite you to the theatre. To the place, where even in the darkest times which we have faced, we look for the light together and together we create the world where goodness triumphs.

TO MEET THE BEAST

What would we do if we came face to face with the beast? Would we fight together as a single organism or pretend to be dead? Raise our hands in the air, trying to appear bigger than we really are? Or would we discover that the beast is also inside us – it has been lurking there all along, waiting for an opportunity to break free through the thin veneer of humanity? There is only one way to find out. The boundaries of the safe and familiar world allow us to move between territories without danger – we choose to be with those who think like us, who have similar value systems. On the fringes remain the strangers, the different, the incomprehensible; on the fringes also remain the dangerous, ever hungry beasts and monsters. The borders are constantly being redrawn, and vigilance cannot be relaxed for a minute. For sometimes the voice of a stranger whispers not from outside one's own community, but from within, perhaps even from the depths of one's own soul. Since ancient times, mankind has been accompanied by monsters: dragons, chimeras, bonnacons, ogres, mermaids, sirens, werewolves and many others. They were usually to be found on the fringes of the known world, off the right path or time, in an alien physical or temporal space. An encounter with a monster or beast is an encounter with the norms and unifying dogmatics of society. Sometimes the beast is just a mask covering our fears, but sometimes the dangerous beast skillfully wears the mask of a human being. The 9th TheATRIUM Festival invites you to turn over the bestiary that reveals itself in the strangest forms and to face the frightening and alien with courage. Meet the Beast. This is the only way to distinguish between dangerous and harmless beasts. This is the only way to decide which beast to fight, which ones skin to borrow in times of need and which one to defend at all costs.