Gintaras Varnas

Gintaras Varnas was born in Vilnius, on September 7, 1961. In 1993, he graduated from Lithuanian Music Academy (the course of Jonas Vaitkus and Rimas Tuminas), and in 1997, completed his Master and Doctoral studies there. Since 2005, the director has been giving lectures in the academy; is a professor. During 1979-1982, he worked as a stagehand, director assistant at the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre, and in 1984-1986, as a director of an amateur theatre studio. During 1987-1988, Gintaras Varnas was employed as a director assistant at the Kaunas State Drama Theatre. In 1989, the artist founded the theatre Šėpa and ran it until 1992. Gintaras Varnas has been a freelance director since 1989. In 2004-2007, he was also an art director of the Kaunas State Drama Theatre (i.e. Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre until 2005). In 2008, Gintaras Varnas established the theatre Utopia. The Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts was awarded to the artist in 2005. His earlier works include, inter aliaLullabies of the Revolution (Lith.: Revoliucijos lopšinės) by Liudvikas Jakimavičius, When Five Years Pass (Spanish: Así que pasen cinco años) and The Public (Spanish: El público) by Federico García Lorca, Hedda Gablerby Henrik Ibsen.

 

 

RECENT THEATRE WORKS:

2000 A Dream Play (Swedish: Ett drömspel) by August Strindberg (Nitra Andrej Bagar Theatre, Slovakia)

2000 Life is a Dream (Spanish: La vida es sueño) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre)

2001 The Distant Land (French: Le pays lointain) by Jean-Luc Lagarce (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)

2001 The Queen of Spades (Russian: Пuковая дама) by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre)

2002 A Masked Ball (Italian: Un ballo in maschera) by Giuseppe Verdi (Latvian National Opera)

2002 Portia Coughlan by Marina Carr (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)

2003 Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre)

2003 Doña Rosita or the Language of Flowers (Spanish: Doña Rosita o el lenguaje de las flores) by Federico García Lorca (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)

2004 The Wasted Land (Lith.: Nusiaubta šalis) based on the play Merlin or the Wasted Land (German: Merlin oder das wüste Land) by Tankred Dorst and Ursula Ehler (joint production of Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre and Arts Printing House)

2004 Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступлeние и наказaние) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Kaunas State Academic Drama Theatre)

2005 Clara’s Relations (German: Klaras Verhältnisse) by Dea Loher (Latvian Theatre Daile, Riga)

2005 Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)

2005 The Lighthouse (French: Le phare) by Thimothée de Fombelle (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)

2006 Innocence (German: Unschuld) by Dea Loher (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)

2007 Star Hail (Lith.: Žvaigždžių kruša) by Gintaras Varnas and Gabrielė Labanauskaitė (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)

2008 Roosevelt Square by Dea Loher (Kaunas State Drama Theatre)

2008 The Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda (Italian: Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda) and Dance of the Ungrateful Women (Italian: Il Ballo delle Ingrate) by Claudio Monteverdi

2008 Decalogue (Lith.: Dekalogas) by Audronis Liuga, Gintaras Varnas (Theatre Utopia)

2009 Shakespeariada (Lith.: Šekspyriada) based on the plays by William Shakespeare (State Youth Theatre, Theatre Utopia)

2010 The Public (Spanish: El público) by Federico García Lorca (Theatre Utopia)

2011 Tiny Dynamite by Abi Morgan (Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Theatre Utopia)

2011 The Ghost Sonata (Swedish: Spöksonaten) by August Strindberg (Klaipėda Drama Theatre)

2012 The Breasts of Tiresias (French: Les mamelles de Tirésias) by Guillaume Apollinaire (Vilnius Theatre Lėlė)

2012 A Ticking Bomb (Lith.: Tiksinti bomba) Michael Lewis MacLennan (Theatre Utopia)

2013 The Bacchae (Greek: Βάκχαι) based on the work by Euripides (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre)

2014 Cornet (Lith.: Kornetas) by Onutė Narbutaitė (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre)

2014 Biography: A game (German: Biografie: Ein Spiel) based on the work by Max Frisch (National Kaunas Drama Theatre)

2015 Judith triumphant over the barbarians of Holofernes (Latin: Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie) based on the oratorio by Antonio Vivaldi (Baroque Opera Theatre)

2016 The Last Fire (German: Das letzte Feuer) based on the work by Dea Loher (State Youth Theatre)

2016 The Oedipus Myth (Lith.: Oidipo mitas) based on the works by Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre)

2017 John Gabriel Borkman based on the work by Henrik Ibsen (State Youth Theatre)

2017 The Pillowman based on the work by Martin McDonagh (Theatre Utopia, Kaunas City Chamber Theatre)

2017 Nathan the Wise (German: Nathan der Weise) based on the work by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (National Kaunas Drama Theatre, Theatre Utopia)

2018 Ghetto (Hebrew: גטו‎) based on the work by Joshua Sobol (National Kaunas Drama Theatre, Theatre Utopia)