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20:00
25.
05

SCYLLA WANTS TO BE A HUMAN

The State Small Theatre of Vilnius
Grand Hall
Duration 1.50 (without intermission)

Premiere 2022

A fusion of theatre and cinema. Absurd comedy in one act

Author Paulina Pukytė
Director Gabrielė Tuminaitė
Scenographer Aistis Kavaliauskas
Costume designers: Deividas Katkus, Sidas Martinavičius
Lighting designer Mykolas Olšauskas
Music: Faustas Latėnas, Mantas Mockus
Movement consultant Raidas Petrauskas
Assistant director Jūratė Mikaliūnienė

Cast:
Eglė Mikulionytė, Elžbieta Latėnaitė, Arvydas Dapšys, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Agnė Šataitė, Rasa Jakučionytė, Tomas Kliukas, Edmundas Mikulskis

Based on the play “The Pose of a Mountain” by the artist and writer Paulina Pukytė, “Scylla Wants to Be a Human” is a multimedia theatre project that uses absurdity and satire to show human interaction as “brainwashing” each other. In contemporary postmodern language, it disassembles the restrictive stereotypes that support gender inequality and other conservative “traditions”, as well as the position of women in a patriarchal, sexist world. The characters in the play are well-known from antiquity; they bring all their cultural baggage into a contemporary context.

From the myth of the ship-sinking monsters, there is Scylla, who feels trapped in her “mountain asana”. She no longer wants to be immobile as a rock with only that one purpose, albeit a powerful one. Scylla longs to be human (an allusion to the title of the classic Lithuanian film “Adam Wants to Be Human”). But what does it mean to be human? What does it take to become human? What are the risks? Scylla starts in the traditional way, with a visit to the “life coach”, Circe. Odysseus, who passes by, and Homer, the “storyteller”, also offer their “wisdom”, but is it what Scylla needs?

During the lockdown, director Gabrielė Tuminaitė, with the help of video artist Aneta Bublytė and cinematographer Eitvydas Doškus, and using this play, started to explore the differences and similarities between cinema and theatre, experimenting with the possibilities of a hybrid form. According to G. Tuminaitė, conceptual Pukytė’s texts are particularly suitable for such multimedia theatre.

“This absurdist feminist play is typical of the author; it is unconventional and specific in its form, full of cultural references, and so working with this material requires a great deal of brain-twisting,” says G. Tuminaitė. The human environment (its reaction and comments) is important here, as the text of the play is constructed from the “garbage” of language that surrounds us. The comments and opinions of those around us obscure the creative impulse and poetic expression, threaten to drown it, and vulgarise it. The question asked here is: is it easy and even possible to be human in such an environment, let alone create? Is this what Scylla hoped for when she decided to transform herself from a mountain-monster into a human-poet?

In her directorial work, G. Tuminaitė draws inspiration from the American “performing for camera” tradition from the 1960s and 1970s, “vintage” televised theatre, and film noir aesthetics that she brings to the stage. This fusion of film and theatre explores the constant change and constant repetition of everything, as well as the importance of perspective. The same characters, appearing live on stage, interact with themselves in the film (with their past or with their self-image?). On stage, they are different; they have changed. But is it just an illusion, and are they still essentially the same? The image becomes apocalyptic, prophetic, and perhaps a warning. Or is it just the way it seems to us? Where is reality – here or there?

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

The director of the performance is Gabrielė Tuminaitė, Deputy Artistic Director of The State Small Theatre of Vilnius, who has an undeniable directorial talent, a distinctive outlook and is constantly looking for new, unusual forms of theatrical expression, creating original performances based on classic works of Lithuanian literature (Žemaitė’s “Daughter-In-Law”, VVMT, 2018; Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas’ “The Story of Severija”, VVMT, 2014), as well as on the basis of classical world literature and dramaturgy (Nikolay Erdman’s “Suicide”, VVMT, 2014; Alfred de Musset’s “Fantasio”, VVMT, 2017). The director also pays a lot of attention to contemporary Lithuanian dramaturgy, collaborating with famous Lithuanian playwrights (Paulina Pukytė “A Loser and a Do-gooder”, VVMT, 2015; Paulina Pukytė “Scylla Wants to Be a Human”, VVMT, 2022). Her latest work is the play “Tinder Dates” based on the play by Gabrielė Labanauskaitė (dir. Gabrielė Tuminaitė, Stas Žyrkov (Ukraine), and Kirilas Glušajevas). She likes to experiment in her work, combining cinema and theatre, or theatre and jazz (VVMT premiere of “Infinity” with NoJo Airlines Orchestra and composer, percussionist, conductor Dalius Naujokaitis (New York). By looking for new forms and techniques, the director enriches the VVMT repertoire with new colours and allows to attract a more diverse audience, ultimately broadening the concept of theatre itself. Dir. G. Tuminaitė has won numerous awards, she has staged performances together with dir. Rimas Tuminas in China, Italy, Greece, and other countries.