Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya is one of the most emotional plays of all time, in which the genius playwright revealed the very essence of human life, the greatest desires and deepest disappointments.

In the Chekhov’s play written in 1896 about the wasted lives of people contains all genres – comedy, drama, and tragedy. All this and even more can be found in the play of the Vilnius Small Theatre: the celebration of life here bursts like dazzling fireworks, and the rejected love, lost hopes, soreness of dreams leaves a lump in the throat.

’m not sure if the world needs yet another stage interpretation of Chekhov. I am much more interested in searching for a relation towards Chekhov, a story, its characters. As the never before, today it is important to stage Uncle Vanya for a one more reason – success ideology that is so popular among us. We only talk about achievements, success, achieving goals or being happy… The pressure is enormous. This play reveals the opposite. We can undergo a failure, but accept that as something totally normal. This ideology of success and winners’ ideology is just too fake.

Tomi Janežič

TOMI JANEŽIČ
An expert of Anton Chekhov’s dramaturgy, who keeps coming back to these plays that skillfully interweave the absurdity and the reality of life. Tomi Janežič is known throughout Europe as a master who creates particularly emotional and at the same time intellectual performances. Janežič makes plays and gives lectures in Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and other countries, and his plays tour all over the world, they are performed at the biggest European theatre festivals (Wiener Festwochen, Avignon, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, MESS, etc.). The director has won several international theatre awards, including the BITEF International Theatre Festival, Golden Mask and others.

Vilnius Small Theatre

The theatre presents its works not only in Lithuania, but also on tours in the USA, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Greece, Georgia, the People’s Republic of China, Ukraine, Poland and others. Today, VST offers more than 20 plays for adults and children. The theatre’s repertoire includes works by European-renowned directors such as Tomi Janežič, Rimas Tuminas, and works by young directors such as Gabrielė Tuminaitė, Kirilas Glušajevas, Uršulė Bartoševičiūtė, Aleksandras Špilevojus, etc. valued by both critics and viewers. VST plays include both Lithuanian and world-famous dramaturgy. In 2020, in the face of a worldwide pandemic, Vilnius Small Theatre created the DramaTest platform. It is a new project of creativity, a space for experiments in drama and theatre. The most successful and best-rated performances from the DramaTest project become part of the VST repertoire.