Photo by Dmitrij Matvejev

The newest performance by the best Lithuanian director. This performance has poured even more oil on the confusion flame in the heads of theatre critics that started after TheSEASONS. Joys of Spring (Lith. METAI. Pavasario linksmybės) by Nekrošius based on the poem by Lithuanian classic Kristijonas Donelaitis in 2003. One gets a feeling that theatre watching skills formed by the legendary Youth Theatre and “classical” Shakespearean trilogy performances do not suit here any more. However, can you imagine The Song of Songs by King Solomon packed into the form of a traditional performance?

Once again Eimuntas Nekrošius creates the world and populates it with a “herd,” (…) which keeps falling apart and reuniting, which communicates in conventional ornamentation of signs, gestures and sounds (…). It’s difficult to grasp whether those people are farming or shepherding goat herds, whether they are materializing in palace halls or interpreting scripts. (…) They put scarecrows up in the middle of fields in the same serious manner as they build cathedrals with sky-high towers. They put an equal sign between a table and an altar, an anvil and a bed, a throne and a stool. It is they who planted forests of parchment scrolls, who get all the harvest and bake bread out of it. It is they who enshroud themselves in texts and sing tell a song fairy-tale.

By Vlada Kalpokaitė. Song Without Words (Lith. Giesmė be žodžių). Literatūra ir menas, 26-11-2004

Nekrošius knows how to create scenes of striking beauty with the help of simple means. Women roll carefully a big scroll of innocent white paper until a stage-long trumpet appears. With the help of the trumpet it is possible to shout or whisper out a question: “where is my Beloved?” to the entire world. Soon the trumpet is divided into smaller scrolls that spread in all directions of the world like the words of love.

By Tadeusz Kornas. Songs of Sirens (Lith. Sirenų giesmės). Kultūros barai, No. 11, 2005.

Neither King Solomon, nor Shullamite are present in the performance. There are only a Man and a Woman who discover themselves and love in a pagan, naïve and passionate way.

By Marina Zajonc. Song About Most Important (Lith. Giesmė apie svarbiausia). Vaš dosug, 04-12 12 2004