January 10 at 19 p.m. The premiere of the live sound and movement performance "Out of the Box" at the Art Printing House (Šiltadaržio 6, Vilnius). The performance combines 3 performers of different ages, professional education and life experience: a mime, a musician and a dancer, who during the performance develop the theme of a person's relationship with a box...
In today's virtual reality and post-pandemic context, when we live more and more closed, we often feel like we are stuck in a box, between the walls of the room or the squares of the screens. The well-known writer Kobo Abė analyzed the alienation of people and the hostility of today's society to personality in the novel "Box Man". After more than 30 years, it is becoming a hot topic again. However, in this case the concept of the box is also articulated as a positive inspiration. Such as, for example, the sheep in the box from A. de Saint-Exupery's story "The Little Prince", which becomes a symbol of the liberation of the imagination, or the popular idiom "out of the box" in the scientific and social environment, which offers the possibility of liberation from our usual environment.
The box becomes the axis of the performance. Standing on stage, it is not only a closed, limiting space, but also a place of discovery (like a treasure chest or a music box). There are also separate planes for musical instruments, which the performers play to create live sound throughout the performance. Therefore, the sound interpretation of the performance is different every time.
3 performers of different ages, professional education and life experience appear on the stage. They represent different stages of life in which we accept and value the concept of the "box" differently. The development team analyzes the relationship with her through the psychologist E.H. Erikson's system of human age stages and through W. Strauss and N. Howe's generational idea theory. The latter claims that every 20 years a new unique generation of humanity grows up, which is formed in a specific period marked by political crises, cultural upheaval or technological breakthrough. All this determines the worldview and personal characteristics of the people of that era.
A young dancer does not recognize boundaries or borders. For him, the box is a world of discoveries (thanks to the phone and computer screen), for a middle-aged sound artist, it is an analogue of self-searching and establishing oneself in society. The aspiration is still to search, but at the same time the responsibility for what has already been achieved has been created. Finally, for a mature mime, the box is his safe, already established field of personal, community and professional experience. But at the same time, there is also a dramatic realization that old age has come and all that you have grown and matured has to be passed on, left behind.
Are we free in our stages of life? At which stage are we most free? How much responsibility do we take? 50 minutes in the duration performance, all three performers will deal with the relationship with the box in their own way, until finally the question - is the box a limitation or a discovery? - will pass into the hands of the audience.
An interdisciplinary team came together to create the play. The authors of the idea - dramatist Goda Giedraitytė and instrumentalist and author of the sound concept Donatas Bielkauskas invited very unique stage artists representing different age groups - dancer, street dance performer Mariųs Eidrigevičius and mime Aleksas Mažonas - to reveal the narrative line. The design of the lights was entrusted to Stasis Jamantas, and the director Karina Novikova decided to turn the whole jumble of ideas into a stage piece.
The production of the play was financed by the Lithuanian Council of Culture. Partners of the performance: International Arts Festival Plartforma and Culture Center Fisherman's Palace.
