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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.

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF DARKNESS

“Dark times” it is said when great trouble befalls the world. When a pandemic is replaced by war, when humanity is balancing on the edge of survival. No one is certain of a bright tomorrow – not even of a tomorrow at all. Physicists would say “Darkness is the absence of light. Therefore, no bright side of darkness exists”. Humanists would say “Not true, there is a bright side of darkness! We can create it ourselves in our heads. Thus learn to resist darkness and defeat it”. British comedians of “Monty Python” would say nothing, just smile ironically and start singing their famous song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. The eye gets used to the dark and starts perceiving something. Maybe it is really possible to create the bright side of darkness in the dark? Maybe darkness is not completely pitch-black? Maybe somewhere in the dark, in someone‘s mind, light is already being born; the mightiest pieces of work are being born,