Romeo
and Juliet
(Romeo ir Dzuljeta)
byWilliam Shakespeare
Directed by Oskaras Korsunovas (Lithuania)
Set design Jurate Paulekaite
Dramaturgy Leonidas Donskis
Costumes Jolanta Rimkute
Musique Antanas Jasenka
Lights Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
Starring
Dainius Gavenonis, Darius Gumauskas, Gytis Ivanauskas, Giedrius Savickas, Dainius Kazlauskas, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Dalia Micheleviciute, Egle Mikulionyte, Saulius Mykolaitis, Arunas Sakalauskas, Rytis Saladzius, Rasa Samuolyte, Giedrius Savickas, Remigijus Vilkaitis, Tomas Zaibus…
Premiere: 12 June 2003, Hebbel Theater, Berlin
and 28 October 2003 in Vilnius (Lithuania)
Co-production : Oskaras Korsunovas Teatras, Festival d’Avignon (France), Hebbel Theater (Berlin), Festival "Arts & Ideas", New Heaven (USA), THEOREM (association supported by the Culture 2000 programme of the European Union)...
Dramaturgy Leonidas Donskis
Costumes Jolanta Rimkute
Musique Antanas Jasenka
Lights Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
Starring
Dainius Gavenonis, Darius Gumauskas, Gytis Ivanauskas, Giedrius Savickas, Dainius Kazlauskas, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Dalia Micheleviciute, Egle Mikulionyte, Saulius Mykolaitis, Arunas Sakalauskas, Rytis Saladzius, Rasa Samuolyte, Giedrius Savickas, Remigijus Vilkaitis, Tomas Zaibus…
Premiere: 12 June 2003, Hebbel Theater, Berlin
and 28 October 2003 in Vilnius (Lithuania)
Co-production : Oskaras Korsunovas Teatras, Festival d’Avignon (France), Hebbel Theater (Berlin), Festival "Arts & Ideas", New Heaven (USA), THEOREM (association supported by the Culture 2000 programme of the European Union)...
"It should come as no surprise that Oskaras Korsunovas is now preparing his version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The theme of politically incorrect love-passion and its potential for societal upheaval and change is ever topical, so perennial, in fact, that it becomes almost banal. For Korsunovas, this is the greatest challenge: to do what is self-evident in unexpected ways; to re-contextualize the tale of Montague and Capulet and make it “fit” the tense realities of today; to ”illustrate” a moral dilemma without being pedagogical; to re-politicize Shakespeare’s aestheticised tribal killings without killing off the poetry of the text. Achieving a contemporary Romeo and Juliet is no easy task, but it is a goal that Oskaras Korsunovas is well prepared to pursue.
Romeo and Juliet are too young to have a fully conscious understanding of the context in which their tragedy is played out. In medieval Verona, or in today’s Lithuania, or in any society trying to be too pragmatic, many differences exist that may trigger the drama set off by Shakespeare: ethnic or linguistic differences (the Lithuanians, the Russian-speaking minorities), differences in education or class (the redundant proletariat, the dispossessed intellectuals, the underbred noveaux riches), the differences played out between those who conform to the norms of “healthy” society and those who place themselves outside the norm (the social outcasts, the terminally ill, those addicted to “remedies” like drinking or taking of drugs . . .). However, the real difficulty lies not so much in demonstrating the roots of hatred as in evoking a modulated image of its progress through contemporary society, like an undercurrent that always finds its way ahead and always invents its own reasons for surfacing. In the words of Oskaras Korsunovas: “I do not wish to simply replace an incomprehensible hatred with a comprehensive concept of hate.”
In the play, the opposite poles between which love pulsates are given entities. No one really remembers the reason that first sparked conflict between the city’s two leading families, a conflict re-kindled by the young couple’s semi-conscious attempts at overcoming it in their union. “If something is fundamentally wrong in society, love always becomes a source of hatred”, Korsunovas says, with explicit reference to the now defunct Soviet system—outwardly stable, seemingly immobile, but constantly threatened by inner enemies and hidden conflicts. “At the slightest prospect of an inter-ethnic liaison or marriage, families would disintegrate into adverse camps fighting a secret war. Romeo and Juliet is topical in our society today, which is still essentially the same, but also in the contemporary world at large."
For Oskaras Korsunovas, Shakespeare’s text describes a social context in which archetypal conflict becomes material for theatre. The play also underlines the method by which theatre deals with social conditions as elements for building a performed narrative. “Methodologically, Romeo and Juliet is uniquely well suited for contemporary theatre”, Korsunovas says. The naive, pure intentions of the two children (Juliet is only fourteen) provokes the “methodologically determined” reaction of the adults. Such violence against minors is part of the unquestioned codes of conduct in adult society.
Oskaro Korsunovo Teatras, July 2002
Romeo and Juliet are too young to have a fully conscious understanding of the context in which their tragedy is played out. In medieval Verona, or in today’s Lithuania, or in any society trying to be too pragmatic, many differences exist that may trigger the drama set off by Shakespeare: ethnic or linguistic differences (the Lithuanians, the Russian-speaking minorities), differences in education or class (the redundant proletariat, the dispossessed intellectuals, the underbred noveaux riches), the differences played out between those who conform to the norms of “healthy” society and those who place themselves outside the norm (the social outcasts, the terminally ill, those addicted to “remedies” like drinking or taking of drugs . . .). However, the real difficulty lies not so much in demonstrating the roots of hatred as in evoking a modulated image of its progress through contemporary society, like an undercurrent that always finds its way ahead and always invents its own reasons for surfacing. In the words of Oskaras Korsunovas: “I do not wish to simply replace an incomprehensible hatred with a comprehensive concept of hate.”
In the play, the opposite poles between which love pulsates are given entities. No one really remembers the reason that first sparked conflict between the city’s two leading families, a conflict re-kindled by the young couple’s semi-conscious attempts at overcoming it in their union. “If something is fundamentally wrong in society, love always becomes a source of hatred”, Korsunovas says, with explicit reference to the now defunct Soviet system—outwardly stable, seemingly immobile, but constantly threatened by inner enemies and hidden conflicts. “At the slightest prospect of an inter-ethnic liaison or marriage, families would disintegrate into adverse camps fighting a secret war. Romeo and Juliet is topical in our society today, which is still essentially the same, but also in the contemporary world at large."
For Oskaras Korsunovas, Shakespeare’s text describes a social context in which archetypal conflict becomes material for theatre. The play also underlines the method by which theatre deals with social conditions as elements for building a performed narrative. “Methodologically, Romeo and Juliet is uniquely well suited for contemporary theatre”, Korsunovas says. The naive, pure intentions of the two children (Juliet is only fourteen) provokes the “methodologically determined” reaction of the adults. Such violence against minors is part of the unquestioned codes of conduct in adult society.
Oskaro Korsunovo Teatras, July 2002
