Opening of performance “God of war” awaiting Lithuanian audience
The creators of the performance “Urvinis žmogus”, theatre Idioteatras, in collaboration with theatre guide teatrai.lt present the second opening this year – the performance “God of war” (lit. “Karo dievas”). The opening night will take place on 16th February in the Mini theatre and concert hall at Vilnius Siemens Arena.
The performance, directed by Dainius Kazlauskas, depicts the relationship between the neighbouring families that comes to the daylight after the Reilles (Aurelija Tamulytė and Darius Gumauskas) visit the Houlliés (Viktorija Kuodytė and Giedrius Savickas). Having met and just acquainted themselves, the neighbours try to clarify the incident that had happened between their children – one boy hit the other with a bat and knocked out a couple of teeth. However, as the visit progresses, the apple pie and coffee get replaced by rum...
“Our life is complicated, every day different attitudes and aims collide. Thus, an eternal war is happening. Where there's a man, there will always be a war – one kind or another. However, when directing this performance, I chose the position of not revealing, conveying, obtruding. It is not an easy position, but I think it is very right. I want to stay objective, so the audience could make a choice themselves. Therefore without a viewer this performance will never be complete, – explains D. Kazlauskas. – Every viewer can come up with their own ending. One will possibly see the situation depicted as very close and familiar, the other one, as opposed, will see it as completely incomprehensible, the third will perhaps find it comic. Substantially, all human relationships, their conflicts are extremely comic, if only you see them from aside. Therefore this play is equally funny and serious“, – says D. Kazlauskas.
The performance “God of war” is based on the 2006 play “God of carnage” by the talented French playwright of the new generation, Yasmina Reza. This author also owns the controversial book “Dawn, evening or night” about Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France. Being all – an actress, a playwright and a good psychologist – Y. Reza is also famous for bringing to the theatre the people who never went there. The critics of the world often call her work a happy medium between the serious and the entertainment genres.
First performed in Zurich (Switzerland) in December 2006, the play “God of war”, received its first praise and recognition from the critics. A little later the staging of the play appeared in theatres in Paris and London. In 2009 the play reached the American centre of theatre – Broadway, whereas one of the main roles – Michel Houllié – was performed by the star of TV series “Sopranos” - the mafia boss James Gandolfini. All four actors from the performance were nominated for Tony awards in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor (Actress) in a Play category, Marcia Gay Harden won it. “God of war” was shown in Broadway 476 times and became one of three longest-running performances there since 2000.
Last year the Polish director Roman Polanski created a film called “Carnage” based on the play, where the main roles were performed by Hollywood stars like Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet.
In 2009 the play triumphed at the prestigious Great Britain's Olivier Awards, where it was recognized as the Best New Play. It also gained the name of the best play in the annual Tony Awards in New York the same year.
According to the critics, “God of war” gained such success because the play reveals the cruelty of human relationships so understandable and recognizable for all of us, it shows how much a person needs to open up. This play emphasizes the absurdity of the conflicts, the subjectivity when the children come up, the reluctance for all – hearing, seeing, speaking. “It is a play about manners without manners”, - Matthew Warchus, the director of the Broadway performance speaks about the play.
The new performance created by the Idioteatras together with the theatre guide teatrai.lt will be open for seeing on 16th February in Mini hall at Vilnius Siemens Arena (entrance through the BMW club). Tickets came on sale today, they can be purchased online at www.tiketa.lt or at Tiketa box offices all around Lithuania.
More information about the performance can be found at www.idioteatras.lt
