The season opens

Vilnius Theatre LĖLĖ follows the tradition of opening its doors to the audience in August. On 24th August at 12:00 and on 25th August at 12:00 and 14:00, the theatre will open its new 67th season by inviting the youngest audience members from the age of three to the puppet theatre's premiere in the Small Hall - The Flat for Rent (dir. Kata Csató), based on the fairy tale written by Leaʼa Goldberg. In mid-September, for the first time in Lithuania, a major showcase of Baltic visual theatre showcase will take place, after which Lėlė will travel to festivals in Slovenia and France with its own productions. In addition, another premiere is planned before the New Year - Milda Mičiulytė will direct a play based on Johnathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels at the Grand Hall. Although the theatre is welcoming the autumn with a new Head of the theater - Paulius Tamolė, elected in July - for the time being, it is continuing the work started and planned by the former Head of the theater Vilmantas Juškėnas in preparation for the changes.

Premiere

Lea Goldberg is a famous Jewish poet, playwright, translator and literature critic. Although her entire childhood and youth was spent in Lithuania, her short story "Flat for rent", published in 2022, is the first book translated and published in Lithuanian. It was published by Žalias kalnas and translated by Antanas A. Jonynas and Nathan Gitkindas. The Hungarian director Kata Csató, already known to Lithuanian audiences from her successful performance "The Lion and the Bird" in Kaunas, has taken up this book in "Lėle". She says: "The book was noticed and shown to me by the designer Julia Skuratova. As soon as I read it, I was interested in it too. I liked the theme of neighbourhood. In these times, with so many complex conflicts in the world, and a terrible war just around the corner, is it really worth reconsidering what it means to live together? And how can we understand each other? This performance, like most of my work, will be almost non-verbal. It will be mostly visual, in a language that everyone can understand." The performance will feature live music (composer and performer - Arkadijus Gotesmanas). Designer - Julija Skuratova, lighting Designer - Vilius Vilutis. Cast: Eliza Bondarenko, Erika Gaidauskaitė, Rokas Lažaunykas, Sigita Mikalauskaitė, Lijana Muštašvili.

Baltic Visual Theatre Showcase 2024

On 13-15 September LĖLĖ in cooperation with the Tallinn State Youth Theatre and the Latvian Puppet Theatre, will host the Baltic Visual Theatre Showcase in various venues in Vilnius, featuring ten different Latvian, Estonian, and Lithuanian visual performing arts works. The biennial rotating event was first successfully implemented in Tallinn, Estonia in 2022. In Vilnius, works by Vilnius Lėlė Theatre, Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, Klaipėda Puppet Theatre, Stalo Theatre, Estonian Youth Theatre, Latvian Puppet Theatre, Cēsis Small Theatre, Gertruda Street Theatre, directed by Eriks Alalooga, Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė, Edgars Kaufels and others will be presented over the three days. Vilnius residents and festival guests will see puppet and object, physical and non-verbal theatre performances for both children and adults. The artistic programme of the showcase will be complemented by lectures and discussions on contemporary visual theatre, its opportunities and challenges.

Touring

Just after the Baltic Visual Theatre Showcase is over, LĖLĖ is about to embark on an intensive touring schedule. On 27-28 September, the theatre will take part in the LUTKE ʼ24 Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia) with the performance "About the World" (directed by Justina Jukonytė), aimed at the youngest audience. On 5 October, Rolandas Kazlas recently staged play "All you don't have", based on the work of poet Valdemaras Kukulas, will be performed at Dalia Tamulevičiūtė's festival of professional theatres in Varėna. On 12 October, the work "Duck, Death and Tulip", directed by Jūratė Trimakaitė, will be shown at the festival "Le MFEST: Marionettes d'Enfer" (Amiens, France).

Other plans

One more premiere is planned for the theatre before the New Year - a play directed by Milda Mičiulytė based on Johnathan Swift's novel "Gulliver's Travels" (playwright - Daiva Čepauskaitė). In this performance, Gulliver will be interpreted as a small boy with a great desire to travel. After a fight with his parents, he tells them that he does not want to live with them anymore and that his greatest wish is to run away from home. As soon as he walks through the door of his room, he encounters his first adventure: the land of Lilliput...