Theater and jazz performance "Infinity" continues its series of unique performances in the Vilnius Small Theater. The audience will be able to see this unique, almost two-hour long musical experience, enjoying free jazz and the carnival of the Little Theater troupe, spinning the eternal battle of good / evil or freedom / oppression, for three autumn evenings - on September 20, 21 and 22.
The performance created by VMT and the NoJo Airlines Orchestra is always different, never repeated and unique. In front of the audience, the talented actors of the VMT troupe and the best Lithuanian musicians together with the legendary jazz virtuoso Dalius Naujokaitis (New York), who conducts almost 30 people on the stage at the same time, undoubtedly captivate with their energy, skill and exuding freedom. The actors of the Vilnius small theater troupe Larisa Kalpokaitė, Agnė Šataitė, Mindaugas Capas and Tomas Stirna share their impressions about the performance, its theme and the characters being created. The actors were interviewed by Kornelija Anelauskaitė, the communication coordinator of the Vilnius Small Theater.
Larisa Kalpokaitė: "With the music in the performance "Infinity" I feel like I'm outside the wall, I feel not alone"
"In the play Infinity, I play a militiawoman who represents the brutal forces, those bad guys, or in other words, the Lukashenka clan, who are trying to suppress the uprising and the revolted people. My character is ambiguous, thanks to the director Gabriela Tuminaitė, he has taken the form of a cruel, unhappy person, who is shaped by misfortune, idleness, slavery, the inability to break out of the beggarly, cruel life in which the whole nation lives, and because of this, even more depressing those who want to rush into freedom. He is a desperate character and very unhappy as a result. It seems to me that in the current situation in Russia, a lot of people have similar biographies and go through the same stages as my character. I would like the play to be a little brighter, giving more hope to the viewer, but unfortunately, there is no hope, life is without glimmers of light, and this results in backlash, rage, pain, and ruthlessness. The character is difficult, one monologue scene for me represents entire scenes that I play in other plays. But I can say that music helps a lot in acting. It is ambiguous, the conductor Dalius Naujokaitis reacts very sensitively to all the expressions of my monologue, the direction of the character, moods. With the music in the performance "Infinity" I feel like I am outside the wall, I feel not alone. Music helps create the atmosphere and the character's life," says actress Larisa Kalpokaitė, who creates the roles of Kotliarova/Pamokslinga in the play "Infinity".
"I think the performance is intended for a young audience. Today's young people have not faced the regime, they are completely free, and it seems to me that it is very important that they see this, that they hear it. Of course, you cannot fully imagine that cruelty. But in order to protect young people and to warn them, this performance is very necessary, and music helps a lot. By the way, I really want to share a real life episode from which I created such a character. There was already a transformation in Lithuania, around 1988 (me with my sister, her boy is 4 years old, my child is 3 years old). We are sitting next to the then Lenin monument, and our children are running back and forth on those stairs. A woman who I have often seen on trolleybuses approaches us, with a blue skirt, a so-called "gymnast" uniform, a belt, and a beret. I think she was the warden of the Lukiškii prison. This thin, stern, close to 70-year-old woman approaches us and says: "How can you sit here when your children are running around the graves?" And what if it was your father's grave, would you let me run around the graves?". This only choked me and I answered her: "First of all, this is not a grave, and second of all, he is my father." She could not answer me. I said that in 1988. If it had been the 1970s, I really wouldn't have been able to say that, because I would have found myself in the KGB building (the current Museum of Occupations and Freedom Struggles (KGB)), - actress Larisa Kalpokaitė shares memories from her experiences and memories.
Agnė Šataitė: "I strongly invite everyone who cares about this topic to the Vilnius Little Theater"
"I play a young, positive girl who fights for freedom, democracy, truth, a more beautiful and open world, but falls into the trap of the regime, and she has to survive, endure all the atrocities associated with it. In the second part of the performance, the character I play takes on a real body, it is a real person - Maria Kalesnikava, a Belarusian oppositionist, who is currently imprisoned for eleven years in a Belarusian prison because of her fight for freedom", says Agnė Šataitė, an actress of the Vilnius Small Theater Troupe.
"For everyone who cares about this topic, for whom it is interesting, important and relevant, I strongly invite you to the Vilnius Small Theater to meet the wonderful VMT troupe, Dalius Naujokaitis and his musical group," says the actress who creates the roles of Positive Girls / Mira in the play "Infinity" .
Mindaugas Cap: "It is important for a young person to feel what brutality, dehumanization, not having one's homeland means"
"At that time, there were such choices: if you agree to become a communist, a general, a security guard, then your life becomes much easier. Although, as they say, where there is tragedy, there is also comedy... I remember when I came to the theater and was invited to join the Communist Party, they told me it was an honor because not everyone is invited, but I refused. And when I went to the army, they told me, you are the only one with a high rank, you have a very respectable profession, you will join, you can be proud after returning to the theater. But since I had already passed theater studies and was not that stupid, I told them: "I promised the local theater party organization that when I come back from the army, I will join them, I can't break my word. Then they left me," actor Mindaugas Capas shares his memories from his life experience.
"I am creating the role of a security guard, a general, a communist, in other words, a virtuous, honest person in those days. It wasn't difficult to create the role, because around me in the army I saw a lot of such generals, such types with such characters, for whom a person means nothing. I had a major with whom we talked, because I was the only one in the division with a higher education, he called me to tell him about the theater. Well, I used to tell him such things that he probably didn't learn anything more about the theater for the rest of his life, because I told him as much as I could fantasize. He also told me about soldiers who had only finished four classes... I remember once I asked, how will they fight, what will they do on the battlefield? They tell me: "They will just all be shot so as not to interfere with the war." Well, that's the reality... So I would highly recommend young people to come to the play so that they can learn the context, young people need to feel as much as possible what we lived in and imagined that that life was normal. It is important for a young person to feel what brutality, dehumanization, not having one's homeland, but only glorification of some mystical country means," says M. Cap, the actor who plays the role of Yaroshenko in the play "Infinity".
Tomas Stirna: "If you want to fight, then fight, but according to the rules, respectably."
In the play "Infinity" I create a character who is dead, his name is Nikita Mickevičius. In the play, he talks about the opportunity to express his straight, enlightened opinion, to have his voice, without veils, he fights for it and fights against the system that tries to oppress him and "equalize" him with everyone. He is a very strong, maybe too strong football fan, and probably the main thing he is fighting for and what he wants to say is that he is Nikita Mickevičius, a locksmith of the fifth category, and that nothing will stop him from expressing his opinion, changing something of his own in the yard, in your district or even in the state. As he says in the play: "If you want to fight, then fight, but according to the rules, honorably, respect your opponent," says Tomas Stirna, the actor playing the role of the dead guy in the play "Infinity".
"I would invite any audience to see the play, because some of the audience can remember what happened, some of the audience can get to know what they haven't experienced yet. It would probably be most useful for a young viewer to get to know what we ourselves have gone through as Lithuanians and what Belarusians and the rest of the world are facing now. I invite you to meet, think about it and have a good time at the same time. To listen to good music, hang out together and have your own voice", invites actor T. Stirna.
We invite you to experience a theatrical performance, enjoy unrestrained freedom and the endless power of jazz on September 20, 21, 22. in the small theater of Vilnius. Also on September 22. after the show at 21 p.m. a concert experience will take place in the basement of the theater, which will be created by the group "Chalat Jazz" and the orchestra "NoJo Airlines" together with the jazz master Dalius Naujokaitis. Tickets are distributed by bilietai.lt and the theater box office.
