The Seagull was born from the creative experiments of one acting course. From the very beginning of the play, whether you like it or not, you feel like a member of a small group of youngsters, you merge into it, become as close as a dorm neighbour. What sets this play apart is that the main character, embodying all possible experiences, is the entire cast, which acts as a giant engine of young energy, a vehicle in which the actions of one character inspire those of the other. The whole performance oscillates as if on a swing: between complete fusion with the naked (in the literal sense of the word) action on stage on the one hand, and a detachment, withdrawal when it is being spoken, on the other. And in the middle of that swing, there is silence, a deafening silence, which creates the impression that you are drowning in the atmosphere of a collective dream. The silence during which all that ball of energy draws close to the spectator and manifests itself with all its mesmerizing power.

Even though you are participating in an experiment that agitates the senses, you hear every word written by Chekhov and realize that this play is written for the present, that it is intended for you. You feel the metaphysics of the text of the Seagull, whose strength does not fade away, as neither does the mutual struggle of heated passions and the constant search for the source of love and creativity. What is there in the play about tearing passions, creative pursuits, changing time, and future prophecies and their fulfilment, the performance makes you feel with all your body. The director and his actors could not have chosen a better depiction that says goodbye to the past and welcomes the future.

Jokūbas Brazys

A theatre director of the young generation, a student of Oskaras Koršunovas. J. Brazys has already made plays based on Moliere’s The Misanthrope and William Shakespeare’s  Macbeth. The Seagull is his third play. The director collaborated with several international festivals: Face Theatre Festival in Budapest (Hungary), Volta On Line in Vilnius (Lithuania), Theatre Olympics 2019 in Saint Petersburg (Russia). He has worked as an assistant to his teacher Oskaras Koršunovas (during the staging of Rimantas Kmita’s Remyga at the Šiauliai State Drama Theatre and William Shakespeare’s Othello at OKT/Vilnius City Theatre). According to Oskaras Koršunovas, Jakūbas Brazys is already creating a unique theatrical language. 

OKT / VILNIUS CITY THEATRE

In 1998, the director, together with a few like-minded fellows, founded an independent theatre, called Oskaras Koršunovas Theatre, shortened to just OKT. Koršunovas, assisted by guest directors, has built a solid repertoire, which encompasses both contemporary drama and classic stagings. The director’s credo to stage classics as contemporary plays, recognizing what is relevant to the present time, and contemporary plays – as the classics, conveying what is universal and timeless, became paradigmatic in that creative period. In the director’s opinion, contemporary theatre must reflect the present day and sometimes even be ahead of the time, predict the future and act as a warning. The latest productions of Oskaras Koršunovas are staged in OKT Studio with the youngest generation of OKT actors. The tours in international festivals, performances and projects in foreign theatres encompass the United States, South Korea, Australia, Argentina, and the territory in between. Each year, the OKT theatre appears on more than ten different stages in different parts of the world. Hence, the motto of the OKT theatre: only being “there” can we stay “here.”