About nothing

Have you ever wondered how theatrical performance is born? Do you think it’s actors repeating their lines over and over like mantras in the deepest nooks of their theatre behind closed doors, the director speaking in an authoritative tone, costumes made ready as if by magic, and a pensive composer working on the soundtrack? Nothing of the kind.

Three actors, one playwright, one table and three chairs—welcome to the process of producing a play.

Where does art come from? What makes creative work and death alike? What are the stories theatre tells and how? Critics in art websites, viewers in the theatre cloakroom, directors interviewed in shows on culture would say “its stories cover anything and everything”. Yet our play is about nothing.

The play About Nothing, written and directed by Linas Jurkštas, is a comic, absurd and rowdy caricature of art, a self-ironic spotlight on creators. In a single evening, viewers see the actors in action from their first reading of the play to the day of the premiere; they see both the making-of of a performance and a story about a young man who has challenged Death, with a hint of the Italian commedia dell’arte. About Nothing is a peek at what happens behind the scenes with the creative process this time presented right there on the stage. It is a playful provocation and a deft balancing act where nonsense meets existential questions.

Director, playwright: Linas Jurkštas
Cast: Danas Kamarauskas, Jurgis Marčėnas, Gabrielius Zapalskis, Birutė Belada Tauterytė/Viola Klimčiauskaitė.
Scenography: Ramunė Skrebūnaitė
Music: Gabrielius Zapalskis
Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes (1 interval)
Premiere: 25 January 2019
N-12