The Lithuanian National Drama Theater (LNDT) is preparing for the third premiere of this season - November 25. The new hall will host the performance "Animal Farm" directed by Paulius Tamolė. XNUMXst century" first showing. The play for this production was written by Rimantas Kmita, based on the classic short story by George Orwell. In the show, viewers will see a group of actors rehearse "Animal Farm" and face the same questions in their lives as their characters.
In George Orwell's political satire Animal Farm, which was written in 1944. and is called by some an anti-Stalinist novel, most of the events and characters have historical counterparts and prototypes. As soon as it was published, the work gained recognition and popularity, and even today this parable of totalitarianism does not grow old and sink into the past, but explains our life more and more eloquently. History repeats itself because human nature, its desire for power, does not change, and indifference or cowardice have the same consequences.
"Livestock Farm" is being developed at LNDT. XNUMXst century" is a performance within a performance. The piece begins with actors rehearsing "Livestock Farm" in an unnamed theater. While creating a new play and finding themselves in opposite camps, they begin to explain their lives, argue about who is to blame for having to live in an endless continuation of "Animal Farm", who did what to make this happen, but more importantly - who didn't do what? And why should anyone who is just trying to do their job take responsibility?
"To go back to Orwell is to try to keep vigilance and watch that democracy does not disappear. And you have to do it every day. So that we don't ask each other where was the moment we missed and lost, or maybe we even willingly gave up our freedom," states the play "Animal Farm. XNUMXst century" developers.
Vytautas Anužis, Kęstutis Cicėnas, Vitalija Mockevičiūtė, Kamilė Petrushkevičiūtė, Augustė Pociūtė, Artiom Rybakov, Rytis Saladžius, Arūnas Sakalauskas, Vainius Sodeika play in the play. The scenography for the performance is created by Marijus Jacovskis, costumes by Dovilė Gudačiauskaitė, music by Marija Paškevičiūtė, lighting design by Vilius Vilutis.
"About three years ago, I brought to Rimanta Kmita a list of literature recommended for high school students to read and I said: 'Choose which works you would like to work with, which would be interesting to you.'" take exactly it.
Everyone says now is a great time to start Animal Farming. The timing is really grateful and relevant, I just want to emphasize that we chose this piece long before the unrest started in the world. Therefore, the play based on "Animal Farm" had to be rewritten three times. The first option was "buried" because the Russian war against Ukraine began. The second version tried to respond to the war, but this version also remained a draft in the long run. We went to the actors with the third, but when everyone met, the fourth, already final version was born. I am convinced: we created the latter option together. We analyzed, argued, made compromises, until finally we all agreed that this is our common story and the path we will follow", says Paulius Tamolė, the director of the play.
"It often seems to us that compromises are made by others. It is much more painful to think about the compromises you are making. But this question was unavoidable while working on the play, rehearsing, getting angry, denying and agreeing. I hope that this question will arise for the audience of the performance as well. How many compromises do we make in our daily lives, for how much do we give up our freedoms and rights, and which compromises can become fundamental, after which there may be no way back to democracy," ponders playwright Rimantas Kmita.
"Animal farm. XXI century" premiere will take place in LNDT New Hall on November 25, 26, 27.
