“Theatre – Living History”. Performance “UNĖ | Based on the Diaries of Actress Unė Babickaitė”
VšĮ Solo Theatre, in cooperation with the Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum (LTMKM), presents the 2026 event series “THEATRE – LIVING HISTORY”. Through documentary theatre experiences, insights from professional theatre researchers, discussions and the opportunity to visit the LTMKM collections, the events will introduce visitors to important cultural figures connected with the development of Lithuanian theatre.
On September 23, we invite you to an event in the “Theatre – Living History” series. The programme:
17:15 – Guided tour of the LTMKM museum collections. Registration here.
18:00 – “UNĖ | Performance based on the diaries of actress Unė Babickaitė”.
“Unė” is a performance based on a play by Birutė Mar, inspired by the diaries of actress Unė Baye-Babickaitė (1897–1961). The play “Unė” was among the winners of the Lithuanian contemporary drama festival “Versmės 2009”. Later, the author also created a performance based on the play. The performance incorporates photographs from the collections of the Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum.
Birutė Mar:
“Unė Babickaitė was one of the most prominent and colourful Lithuanian theatre figures of the last century – an actress and director who appeared in Hollywood films and performed on stages in New York, Washington and Paris.
Her diary, written in Paris in 1930–1932, seemed to be asking to be brought to the stage – Unė knew how to look at her surroundings through the eyes of a playwright, with self-irony, passion and humour. She was a person of extraordinarily beautiful spirit, rather extravagant – she married her first cousin Vytautas Graičiūnas, whom she met in America, and remained happy with him throughout her life. She especially revered and idealised theatre. Unfortunately, after returning to Lithuania before the war, Unė was not recognised by Lithuanian critics and hardly performed anymore. Soon, her fate took a tragic turn – in 1951 she was deported to Siberia, where her husband died in a labour camp, followed by years of loneliness in Kaunas… But Unė remained Unė – she organised evenings, recited poetry, and never lost her sense of humour or inner radiance.
I discovered so many parallels between Unė’s biography and my own life! Like me, she studied in St Petersburg and performed in film and theatre. After returning from her studies – before leaving for America – she directed at the State Theatre in Kaunas (after my studies in St Petersburg, I also staged my graduation performance “Happy Days” in Kaunas). She was also interested in Eastern culture, travelled extensively and performed in several languages…
I thought that through the character of Unė, it might be possible to reflect on my own theatrical experiences and create a performance about THEATRE – its enchanting and fragile illusion. And about our lives, which, like a performance, pass by so quickly, a mirage of existence…”
Playwright, director and performer – BIRUTĖ MAR
Set designer – DMITRIJUS MATVEJEVAS
Costume designer – JOLANTA RIMKUTĖ
Choreographer – EDITA STUNDYTĖ
Composer – ANTANAS KUČINSKAS
Performance duration: 1 hour 15 minutes.
After the performance, writer and author of artistic biographies Aldona Ruseckaitė will present the creative legacy of U. Babickaitė, one of Lithuania’s first professional actresses and directors, and talk about the activities of Lithuanian artists in emigration during the first half of the 20th century. Discussion with the audience (with writer A. Ruseckaitė and the performance’s creative team; moderated by Birutė Mar).
The project is partially funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Project partner – Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum.
Tickets are available here.
