Adelaide Festival of Arts and the Lithuanian State Theatre

 

The biannual Adelaide Festival of Arts features international performance from around the world.  In 1992 the State Theatre of Lithuania performed two plays as part of the festival, Uncle Vanya and the Square. 

Uncle Vanya written by Anton Chekhov and Directed by Eimuntas Nekrosius, had a cast of 12 actors.  The Square written and directed by Eimuntas Nekrosius, with four actors, two of whom also performed in Uncle Vanya.

The performances received rave reviews, ‘nothing short of superb’ Nick Griffith Advertiser, ‘one of the great theatre events of the 1992 Adelaide Festival’, Peter Ward of the Australian.  Peter Goers, controversial Adelaide theatre critic referred to it as a ‘turkey’ and not worth checking out.  The following day in the letters to the press, Goers was attacked for his ‘ill considered, egotistical, ignorant piece of work’. 

Both plays were performed in Lithuanian with the audience wearing headphones with simultaneous translations.  Performed in the Scott Theatre and Union Hall of Adelaide University, the troop gave eight performance of Uncle Vanya, a play of 3 hours and 15 minutes, and four of the Square, a much shorter performance of 1 hour and 40 minutes. 

The actors
Jurate Aniulyte
Vladas Bagdonas
Saulius Bareikis
Dalia Storyk
Calia Overaite
Elvyra Zebertaviciute
Vidas Petkevicius
Kostas Smorginas
Juozas Pocius
Irena Tamosiunaite
Rimgaudas Karvelis
Vytautas Taukinaitis
Janina Matekonyte
Remigijus Vilkaitis