68TH SEASON OF THE PUPPET THEATER

On September 6, Vilnius Puppet Theater will open its new, 68th season. The theater's plans for this season include five premieres, numerous tours in Lithuania, and a trip to a prestigious puppet theater festival in France in September.

Three premieres are planned for this year

Three new performances await young audiences this year. On September 12-14, director Giedrė Kriaučionytė-Vosylienė's premiere of "The Girl with the Rifle," based on the book by Marius Marcinkevičius and Lina Itagaki, will be performed.

"Both the composer and I grew up listening to our parents' stories about our grandparents who were partisans, so the theme itself is very personal. There is probably no family in Lithuania that has not been affected by the war – deportations or attempts to resist. And in this global context, we want to tell these stories again and again, because listening to them once more convinces us that even against a much greater enemy, it is worth defending our values, because today we are free," emphasizes the director.

On October 11–12, director Karolina Chomičienė will present Sakmė apie aisčius (The Tale of the Aisčiai), and on November 29–30, the first half of the season will be crowned by Rimas Driežis' production Dvylika brolių juodvarniais lakstančių (Twelve Brothers Flying as Ravens).

A trip to the international Charleville-Mézières Puppet Theater Festival

This fall, the Vilnius theater Lėlė is also expected on the international stage—the troupe will travel to the international Charleville-Mézières Puppet Theater Festival in France. The main program will feature director Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė's play Pasirinkimas (The Choice), intended for adult audiences.

"We received an invitation to the Charleville Festival. We are going there to represent not only Lithuania, but all three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. We took the lead for Lithuania so that not only our theater would go, but also our colleagues from Kaunas and independent creators. It is a huge festival, a Mecca for puppeteers, so to speak. We are very proud to have been invited to participate in the main program with our play Pasirinkimas (The Choice)," says Paulius Tamolė, director of the Vilnius theater Lėlė.

Adult audiences are also discovering "Lėlė"

Although most of the repertoire of the Vilnius theater Lėlė is intended for children, in recent years, adults have been returning to the theater more and more often. "Audiences say: we never thought that Lėlė could have such performances for adults. This is very gratifying, because those who once visited with their children are now returning as adults and rediscovering the theater," notes Paulius Tamolė.

The theater director invites you to see for yourself that puppet and object theater performances, with their aesthetics and different approach to the audience, are capable of moving older audiences as well. The repertoire includes several works for adult audiences: The Choice (directed by Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė) , Dorian Gray's Portrait (directed by Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė), King Ubu (directed by Neville Tranter), Iron and Silver (directed by Rolandas Kazlas), Everything You Don't Have (directed by Rolandas Kazlas), Not According to the Fashion of This World (dir. Rolandas Kazlas), Cipollino (Not for Children!) (dir. Šarūnas Datenis), Oscar and the Three Musketeers (dir. Ewa Piotrowska), My Vilnius Is Mine (dir. Paulius Tamolė).