Performance in Lithuania is supported by:

I have long wanted to introduce Lithuanian theatre audiences to Milo Rau, one of the most renowned European directors of our time, a visionary who sets the rules of the new theatre ethics and strives to follow them. The creator first caught my eye in 2018, when he assumed the role of Artistic Director at the NTGent Theatre in Belgium and published a theatrical manifesto that shook the European scene like no other phenomenon in recent decades. In that same year, he initiated the ‘Histoire(s) du théâtre’ (History(ies) of Theatre), an ongoing series of plays where a different distinguished director produces a play each year reflecting on the past and present of theatre. ‘The Repetition. Histoire(s) du théâtre (I)’ was the first play in the series. One might wonder how much of Milo Rau’s ambitious vision of theatre, or his manifesto, which declared that theatre must enact change in the world, was merely words on paper, and how much of it has transformed into an embodied vision. And how does Milo Rau himself, who has left NTGent in June this year, see it today? You will have the opportunity to ask the director himself, as he will be visiting Vilnius on 2 October to meet the audience.

The title, ‘The Repetition. Histoire(s) du théâtre (I)’, alludes to both repetition and rehearsal. As the Latin saying goes, ‘repetition is the mother of learning’. Perhaps by revisiting the most terrible events in human history, the outbreaks of violence, and the banality of evil, by rewinding the tape over and over again, we can glean valuable lessons on how to prevent their recurrence in reality. Maybe we can grasp the moment when crime is born and thus become able to prevent it.

Artistic director of the festival
Kristina Savickienė

One April night in 2012, Ihsane Jarfi talks to a group of young men in a grey VW Polo in front of a gay club in Liège. Two weeks later he is found dead at the edge of a wood. He had been violently murdered after being tortured for hours. The crime upsets and unsettles the entire city.

From the very beginning, theatre has been an incantation of the dead, a ritualized experience of original sins and collective traumas. In “The Repetition”, the first part of a series curated by Milo Rau titled “Histoire(s) du théâtre”, the director and author approaches tragedy in the form of a multi-perspective narrative of a criminal case in 5 acts. Milo Rau and his actors set out to discover a capital crime, in search of the essential emotions of tragic experiences: loss and grief, truth and falsehood, disaster and fear, cruelty and terror. Professional and non-professional actors ponder the glamour and depths of life and theatre and slip into the roles of the protagonists involved in a brutal murder case.

What is at the beginning of a crime? Intention or coincidence? What part does the audience play? How much is the collective to blame? And who is on stage? Milo Rau and his team return to the fundamental problems of their artistic work over the last 15 years: the question of representability of violence and traumatic events on stage – in search of the essence of the fundamentally tragic human condition and in celebration of the power of theatre.

About the creator:

Milo Rau is a Swiss director of political and documentary theatre. His provocative pieces touch the open nerve, talks about social issues, and do not shy away from difficult topics, reflection on social traumas. Important part of Milo Rau’s work is in-depth research, reconstruction of events, witness interviews, and travels around the world in search of answers.

Milo Rau is not only a theatre director. He is also a filmmaker, sociologist, writer and journalist. Before starting to work in theatre, he reported from conflict zones: Northern Iraq, Syria. In 2007 he founded the International Institute of Political Murder. Together with his creative team, he engages in activism, organises debates on social and political issues, gives lectures, and publishes books.

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“La Reprise” is not for everyone, although it probably should be. It’s thrilling and terrible theatre – and almost shaming in its ability to engross and fascinate.

Diana Simmonds, STAGENOISE

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His approach is clinical and allows the audience multiple points of entry into the drama, occasionally confounding us with conflicting messages [..] It is an extraordinarily mature, crystalline, engaging and compelling piece of theatre […]

Andrew Todd, The Guardian

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TECHNICAL STAFF ON TOUR: Jim GoossensBara, Maxime Jennes, Moritz von Dungern (Camera); Sylvain Faye, Sebastian König (Light); Pierre-Olivier Boulant, Jens Baudisch (Sound); François Pacco (Subtitels); Mascha EuchnerMartinez, Anna Königshofer (Tour manager)
EQUIPMENT: Workshops and studios of the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

“The Repetition” is the first production to follow the “Ghent Manifesto“ – a set of rules which will apply to all productions at the NTGent under the artistic direction of Milo Rau. It was published officially on May 18th 2018 at NTGent.

“The Repetition” is a PRODUCTION by the International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM), Création Studio Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, SUPPORTED BY the Capital Cultural Fund Berlin, Pro Helvetia, Ernst Göhner Stiftung and Kulturförderung Kanton St. Gallen, IN COPRODUCTION WITH Kunstenfestivaldesarts, NTGent, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers, Tandem Scène Nationale Arras Douai, Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz Berlin, Théâtre de Liège, Münchner Kammerspiele, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt a. M., Theater Chur, Gessnerallee Zürich, Romaeuropa Festival. WITH THE SUPPORT of ESACT Liège.