David Harrower
BLACKBIRD
Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania

“Blackbird” is a provocative performance, based on the play by the Scottish playwright David Harrower, which received the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award as the best drama in 2006. Its plot is sharp or even shocking: the question about where is the boundary between uncontrollable passion, love and a pathological crime is addressed through a collision of a grown up man and a young girl. Ray was 40, and Una – 12 when they felt this demonic attraction towards each other, which ended in a public crime. The characters meet again fifteen years later and they are still very much attracted to each other, so the audience is bound to have a tough one-and-a-half hour long theatrical psychoanalytic session.

Vladas Bagdonas, one of the most famous Lithuanian actors, plays Ray, and Liuda Gnatenko, an actress of the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theater, – Una. This couple is unpredictable on stage. At one moment they attack one another as opponents in a boxing ring, and at another – give themselves up to mutual desire, tenderness and care. The director Jonas Vaitkus became familiar with this play by Harrower in 2007, when staging "Blackbird" based on the same material, which, incidentally, was nominated for three "Golden Cross of the Stage" Awards. Today, as the leader of Lithuanian Russian Drama Theater, Vaitkus says of "Blackbird", “it was one of the attempts to change the theatrical repertoire. Recently, all the theaters have been merely entertaining the audience. More serious matters should also be tackled, but this does not necessarily have to be boring.”

Director Jonas Vaitkus
Set and costume designer Simona Biekšaitė
Cast: Vladas Bagdonas, Liuda Gnatenko and Irina Lavrinovič

Joint production of the Russian Drama Theatre, Saint Petersburg Theatre Festival “Baltijskij dom” and Audronis Liuga productions

Premiere – January 10, 2009
Duration – 90 min.

Jonas Vaitkus. Theatre and film director Jonas Vaitkus (b. 1944) is one of the most productive and acclaimed Lithuanian directors. A winner of various awards throughout his career, Jonas Vaitkus has directed many films and more than 60 plays. From 1977 to 1988 he was the artistic director of Kaunas State (Academic) Drama Theatre, and from 1989 to 1995 was the artistic director of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. Currently he is director of Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania.

The director is the laureate of the Lithuanian National Award; has received the Lithuanian State Award, the “Golden Fleece” award (Georgia), the Kristoforas award (Lithuania, 1996), and the “Golden Cross of the Stage” as the best director of the year (2007).