November 10 and 11 theater "Atviras ratas" presents the premiere - the play "PRAEis" by director, playwright and actor Justos Tertelis. According to the creator, this is a one-man show for everyone who loves the theater, is curious about what it looks like behind the scenes of the theater, and also for people who have crossed the threshold of thirty years.
The performance "PRAeis" creates a dialogue with the play "PRA" by J. Tertelis, created 16 years ago, which at that time became a kind of manifesto of a young person taking his first professional steps. Having emerged from the age of a young creator, J. Tertelis looks at similar questions from the perspective of an experienced, mature theater creator. We talk with the artist about the questions raised by the upcoming premiere and the importance of the N-33 age rating of the play. The premiere of the play "PRAEis" is on November 10, 11. 18.30:XNUMX p.m. In the art printing house.
Just, the theater "Atviras ratas" has been in existence for 17 years. Although he has a lot of different activities, he keeps coming back here both as an actor and as a director. Why is it important to you to create "Open Circle"?
Apparently, because Open Circle is home. I am one of its founders, I know how this creative space grew, what ups and downs and other twists and turns we had, how we nurtured it. In addition, right here I feel great respect for our audience - some of them even say that they only go to "Avtira Rata" because other theaters do not respond to them.
Many ideas come to me, which I realize I can realize only here, which would not be so well understood, would not resonate in any other theater. Here I know that I will most likely find a relationship and dialogue with the viewer. It usually happens that I leave the most precious ideas to the "Open Circle". Probably, a person always brings home what is most important to him.
The play "PRA" is your master's thesis, which is also over 15 years old. It was a search for answers by a young creator taking his first steps, while now there are several questions from the perspective of a mature theater. However, the concept of a young developer is interpreted differently by many, so it is interesting to understand what a young developer is for you? Does the play's censor N-33 suggest an answer?
I want to talk about these topics in the new play. When you're young, it seems like you'll always be like that, but the longer you live, the faster it becomes clear that at some point you'll stop being like that. Sometimes the simplest things give it away, when you can no longer apply, for example, for a young artist award or a residency... While filling out the application, you try to find your date of birth, but it is no longer among the options, you were born somewhere below, where people are not born (laughs).
The most interesting thing is that in this way you become aware of the existence of an age limit that is not marked by you. It seems to me that I am creating in the same way as I did 16 years ago. I may have more experience, more skills, but the essential creative drive comes from the same things. And suddenly they tell me that I am no longer young! This play is about that - you realize that you are not young anymore, but you are not the theater legend who created everything. It is presence tarp, somewhere in the middle. A significant part of society can identify with such a state, it is the state of an average person. The name "PRAeis" refers to those moments when you begin to see how each thing comes and inevitably passes. It gives a whole different perspective.
The idea of age censoring was suggested by the fact that often when creating for children, we very clearly distinguish age groups: here is a play for babies, here is for children from 4 to 7 years old, and so on. And after adolescence, everything is reserved for such universal adults, as if an 18-year-old has the same conscious maturity or cares about the same things as a 40-year-old.
Sometimes when I come to the theater I see a good play, but it no longer interests me, it no longer reveals new perspectives, it seems familiar, naive. Because of this, I wanted to put a specific censorship on my performance, because I feel that it is a performance for people aged 33 and over. Of course, we also welcome younger people, but I believe that it will not be so easy for them to identify with this work due to their different experiences.
The play, among many others, raises a rhetorical question - why do people go to the theater? Why is this important to them? It is interesting to understand how you would answer this question yourself, why do you go to the theater yourself, what is important to you or what is missing?
I am asking these questions because one of the central axes in the first mono-performance "PRA" was also similar, only the questions are asked from the perspective of a young person. At that time, I was talking about a young person's entry into the new world of professional theater and trying to find out with the theater and at the same time with the audience why they go here.
I want these two performances to create a dialogue with each other. I am especially pleased that "PRA" has gained resonance in 15 years, many young actors took up this play - it means that the material was necessary, it helped them express their positions. I want the new play to ask similar questions.
It seems to me that theater will probably remain the last archaic art form where we need to physically gather and be with other living people. This is a special advantage of theater over other media. During the quarantine, we made sure that remote theater does not work, it is necessary to physically bring people together in one place. In the theater there is a wonderful opportunity to be together here and now, to see a living person on stage who can make mistakes.
If we want an infallible actor, we can go to the cinema, where everything is cleaned and mounted. In the theater, there remains the possibility of mistakes, of being imperfect; theater is constantly changing in the relationship between the actor and the audience. Of course, there is a lot of theater that pushes this to the side, for which it becomes important to act on the viewer through other stimuli, impression, aesthetics. While that is important too, one of the most important things for me is still creating a living relationship.
With the performance "PRAEis" you become a person-orchestra again: you are a director, a playwright, and an actor, standing alone in front of the audience. What is your relationship with individual and team work? How important is it to you to maintain this balance and how does it feel to be performing in a one-man show again?
I feel, of course, timid. It happens every once in a while: theater and creativity are a state that is both terrifying and mesmerizing at the same time. In the theater, you never know anything completely - otherwise there is no creativity.
Working alone is interesting and varied. I feel how sometimes the playwright wants to dominate, the actor says that it's nonsense, the director tries to maneuver between them... On the other hand, it's not so important for me that the result is perfectly directed, I let the actor and the playwright argue, because I believe that with each performance that the performance will change.
As in any job, you get tired working alone or with large teams in the theater - you need a balance here. If, for example, I am directing the big Fluxus festival in Kaunas with a huge team, I want to work with just a couple of actors in the next project. Such a change gives me the opportunity to renew myself.
Although the performance "PRAEis" is dedicated to people who love the theater, I wonder what a person who does not normally visit the theater can take away from it?
One of my biggest wishes was that this performance was not only for theater lovers, I would really like to see people who don't normally go to the theater. Even if you've only seen one bad show, we'll have something to talk about in this show! I would really hate for the last performance I saw in my life to be bad. I invite you - if this has happened, come again, take away the message that there can be good things in the theater!
On a more serious note, as in the first play "PRA", here I am trying to talk not only about the theater, but also more universally - how does what is in the theater relate to the general public? If "PRA" was a drama of a beginner, the new play talks about the questions that come when you have already experienced a lot in life - not only in the theater. I don't really answer all those questions, but I create a space to hang out with them and look for answers together.
Agnė Vidugirytė's interview with Justus Tertelius, the creator of the play
