The director of the play written in the 18th century and the artistic director of VMT, Gabrielė Tuminaitė, sees it as a work that blurs the boundaries of eras, provoking, which, under the guise of comedy, actually explores the cruelty of society, self-deception, and the desperate desire to please.
Read more Preparation for surgeries at Kaunas Clinics is fundamentally changing: what patients need to know?
This autumn, the audience will see the first part of the trilogy, and in the future, they can expect no less surprises. The second part – “The Adventures of the Summer Residents” – will appear in the fall of 2027 on the stage of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, where VMT actors will perform alongside opera artists. For the third part of this ongoing project, the creators will return to VMT. It is expected that the final performance will be seen by the audience at the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028.
At the center of the first part of the trilogy is a colorful group of characters feverishly preparing to go summering in suburban villas, with the foreground featuring a young man’s jealousy towards his fiancée, who is courted by another admirer. In the desperate rush, neither financial nor moral norms are considered, and the characters are gripped by a true mania of vanity. They hope that by going to the villas, to a magical “elsewhere,” they will fulfill themselves as people, and the problems they are running from will resolve themselves. But it soon becomes clear that the problem lies much deeper.
Brutal relationship patterns whose validity is eternal
The theatrical “Summer Residents Trilogy” series will last about a year and a half, but the journey of the trilogy, considered a classic of Italian dramaturgy, to the Lithuanian theater stage was incomparably longer. G. Tuminaitė tells that she discovered C. Goldoni during her studies when she wanted to explore the very foundations of theater and the comedy genre. In recent years, she has focused her attention on the “Summer Residents Trilogy” – a work that has not only never been staged in Lithuania but also has never been translated into Lithuanian.
Although the trilogy was written in 1761, more than two and a half centuries ago, the director sees an extraordinary relevance in the issues examined: “Reading the trilogy, I see its characters, recognize their relationships in the present, my friends, and myself in a refined form. Therefore, when directing, I am not so interested in where the action takes place – in a mansion or a park. I am interested in people and the situations they experience; the focus is on vivid, even brutal scenes of their relationships. We do not aim to create specific historical circumstances, and when they are not in the foreground, fundamental, simply archaic laws of behavior, certain brutal patterns in which we still live today, become clear,” says the director.
The director is supported by Luciano Romano, an Italian actor and director, an expert on C. Goldoni, who taught the actors of the upcoming play the art of acting. According to him, C. Goldoni’s characters are funny but at the same time tragic, evoking sympathy, overwhelmed by uncontrollable anxiety. Their attempts to escape from themselves and not see what is truly important, efforts to reconstruct reality in their own way and manipulate it – are tragicomic. “C. Goldoni portrays a society that plays itself: its desire to appear, have fun, meet social expectations. However, the glitter and comedy hide a deep anxiety: the need to be loved, recognized, accepted,” reveals L. Romano the relevance of the Italian classic’s work.
The work of the Italian classic matches the spirit of VMT
In staging C. Goldoni’s work, G. Tuminaitė wants to continue what is the identity of VMT – at the center of such theater is actor theater, ensemble, and actor. “C. Goldoni’s plays meet the criteria of this theater’s identity. The characters of the play are not like puppets or masks; they are not commedia dell’arte characters. They are feverish, their emotional temperature is elevated, reactions are hypertrophied, but this arises from clear psychological reasons, intentions, motives, hidden plans,” explains the director.
C. Goldoni expert L. Romano also emphasizes that it would not be correct to evaluate this author as simply comic or traditional. In his opinion, C. Goldoni’s dramaturgy arises from an extraordinarily keen observation of humans and social relations. Staging his works requires the director to find a balance between respect for the Goldonian structure and the freedom to let it live in the present, and actors must have the courage to play, listen to each other, and truly react to one another. “Essentially, C. Goldoni demands a very simple and at the same time very difficult thing: to be alive on stage. When that life appears, his theater does not seem old-fashioned at all – it speaks directly to today’s audience,” summarizes L. Romano.
Read more The president calls to «break through» the culture of using funds for defense
A challenge, adventure, and responsibility for the creative team
The first part of the trilogy is being staged by an international team with very rich and diverse experience at VMT. Different elements of the play – scenography, costumes, lighting, music – are handled by creators already distinguished in their fields. For some of them, encountering C. Goldoni’s work was their first such experience, and the entire creative journey is further distinguished by the fact that it will not end with the premiere of the first play.
The composer of the play, Vygintas Kisevičius, says that he only began to get closer acquainted with C. Goldoni’s work when G. Tuminaitė handed him the play. The director was impressed by the previous works of this music creator, a multi-instrumentalist, in theater. V. Kisevičius has been nominated twice for the Golden Stage Cross and composed music for the film “Letters from a Silenced Country” by director Andrei Kutsila, which won the best documentary award at the Venice Film Festival a few days ago.
Already during the first conversations between the director and the composer, the musical direction and style began to emerge. “At the time when C. Goldoni was creating, the opera buffa genre was popular in Italy – in other words, comic opera, operetta. And C. Goldoni himself wrote librettos for this genre. So classical instruments came into the musical track of the play, there are orchestral passages, but also the sound of guitar, mandolin, Italian songs,” describes V. Kisevičius the music of the upcoming play.
According to the composer, the instrumentation was also influenced by the fact that the second part of the trilogy will be staged at LNOBT, where the music creation will be taken over by composer Zita Bružaitė.
Experts in their fields and actors of different generations
The scenography and costumes of the play were created by Bulgarian-born theater artist Youlianas Tabakovas. The composer is multi-instrumentalist, jazz and avant-garde music creator and performer Vygintas Kisevičius. The lighting score was created by Audrius Jankauskas, the lighting designer of most of Eimuntas Nekrošius’s plays. The actors of the play were taught the subtleties of Goldonian comedy acting by Italian actor and director Luciano Romano.
A lecture on C. Goldoni’s dramaturgy was given to the creative group by Dainius Būrė, who is also the author of the libretto for the second part of the trilogy, and movement consultations for the actors were provided by prima ballerina Loreta Bartusevičiūtė. The translation from Italian used for the first trilogy play is by Karilė Mozerytė and Dainius Būrė, and the text was adapted for the stage by Arna Aley.
Read more Survivors: At least 60 people died in a gold mine collapse in Sudan
The premiere of “Summer Residents’ Fever” at VMT – September 24–26.
