Helium: Lithuanian Premieres – GRIMMASOS

A contemporary circus performance based on the first uncensored edition of the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales.

Drawing on three lesser-known stories from the first, uncensored edition of the Brothers Grimm’s collection – published long before the tales were adapted for children – GRIMMASOS brings together circus, dance and storytelling in an intimate and immersive performance.

Violent, chaotic and dark, these stories portray a world struck by misfortune. People and creatures lose their lives and regain them, seek revenge, and sometimes a goat manages to destroy a family. Can circus become a place where we come together to make sense of the inexplicable? Can audiences and artists create something together?

Three artists and three audience members create the performance, while everyone else observes through reading, dancing and performing acrobatic acts. The work is rooted in fairy tales that, on the one hand, seem to have nothing to do with real life, yet on the other reveal something deeply human and recognisable beyond words.

Creative team:

Performers: Gabrielle Emilly Aidulis, Kęstas Matusevičius, Aino Mäkipää
Director, dramaturg: Gildas Aleksa
Composer: Jokūbas Tulaba
Set and costume design: Kotryna Klara Rupainytė
Consultant: Angela Wand (Sweden)

Co-producers: Kanta Company, Teatronas
Partners: Subtopia (Sweden), Dynamo Workspace (Denmark), Menų spaustuvė and Kaunas City Chamber Theatre (Lithuania)

Duration: 50 min.
Age: 16+

The performance premiere is partly funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality. The project also received funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Culture and Arts Programme.

The HELIUM Festival is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality, supported by Vytautas mineral water, with LRT and DELFI as media partners.