Have you ever wondered how a theatre performance is born? Actors repeating lines like mantras behind closed doors in the farthest corners of the theatre, the authoritative voice of the director, costumes magically coming together stitch by stitch, and a thoughtful composer creating the soundtrack? Nothing like that.
Three actors, one playwright, one table, and three chairs — welcome to the process of making a performance.
Where does art come from? What do creation and death have in common? What does theatre talk about and how? Critics on arts portals, audiences in theatre cloakrooms, and directors in cultural interviews say: about everything. And we are staging a performance about nothing.
Director Linas Jurkštas’ performance, based on his own play About Nothing, is a comic, absurd, and mischievous satire of art that turns the spotlight of self-irony back onto the creators themselves. Over the course of a single evening — from the first reading of the play to premiere day — the audience follows the actors while witnessing both the process of creating a performance and a story infused with elements of Italian commedia dell’arte about a young man who tried to defeat Death.
About Nothing brings the backstage of creativity onto the stage — a playful provocation and a nimble balance between nonsense and existential questions.
Director and playwright: Linas Jurkštas
Cast: Danas Kamarauskas, Jurgis Marčėnas, Gabrielius Zapalskis, Birutė Belada Tauterytė / Viola Klimčiauskaitė
Set designer: Ramunė Skrebūnaitė
Composer: Gabrielius Zapalskis
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes (1 intermission)
Premiere: January 25, 2019
Age rating: N-12
Tickets available here.
