Productions

Vilnius Table Theatre (Stalo teatras)
LITHUANIA

Director, Scenographer Saulė Degutytė
Composer Mantvydas Leonas Pranulis
Costume and Lightning Designer Renata Valčik
Singers Inga Šepetkaitė, Paulina Simutytė, Kristina Baranauskaitė
On stage Balys Ivanauskas

The depth of the universe of three rice grains – this is the credo of the creators of "Siberian Haiku". The performance is based on the texts of Jurga Vilė in the book of the same name. Here, the story of the exile of the author's father Algimantas Stakėnas is told through the mouth of a ten-year-old boy, and it reveals the fate of many Lithuanians.

Soil became the most important medium of the stage play. All the characters in the story come out of it, and it laconically conveys the historical actions and consequences of war. As usual in the Table Theatre, actor Balys Ivanauskas conveys the main characters – Algiukas, his sister, mother, father, goose Martynas, aunt Petronėlė, soldiers Bulvinis and Duoninis, and others – using various household items. Along with the actor, the three-singer choir "Obuoliai" contributes to creating the atmosphere in the performance. Mantvydas Leonas Pranulis, a younger generation composer, chose musical instruments that correspond to the poverty of exile and are Algiukas’s favourite instruments – buckets and people's voices.

With the inventive use of various objects and making them act unexpectedly, the performance “Siberian Haiku“ focuses on the subject of spiritual freedom and creativity, because in difficult moments it gives strength to even the smallest ones. Although the piece speaks of painful things, plaintiveness is substituted with playfulness, lightness and the haiku – a Japanese poem that “paints” a natural landscape from a few words, which symbolizes inner human experiences.

The main principle of creativity for The Table Theatre is: simple means for extraordinary action. The Table Theatre is the theatre of objects. Contemporary or ancient everyday objects reveal the matter in the theatre’s work: they become puppets and thus gain new meanings. Such expression opens possibilities for the spectators to find new authentic connections to their ordinary, well-known environment.

The theatre has long since ceased to fit on the table and has unfolded its displays on the stages of theatres, in school auditoriums and city squares. Regardless of the size of the action, however, The Table Theatre remains faithful to its time-honored concept: the actor manipulates personified objects, which remain the primary means of conveying thought.