Preparing for the autumn-winter season of the comedy “Open Couple,” the actors recalled the most memorable curiosities that occurred during its two years of showing. Most of them are sweet and charming, but one is truly dangerous.
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The birth of “Open Couple” coincided with the beginning of Toma Vaškevičiūtė’s motherhood. When the play appeared on stage, her little daughter Ona Orai was only six months old.
The actress skillfully balanced work and caring for her daughter. The audience had no idea that sometimes she appeared on stage after a sleepless night. “It took a lot of strength. Sometimes my daughter would fall asleep only at seven in the morning, and a few hours later we were already leaving for the performance,” said Toma Vaškevičiūtė.
Giedrius Savickas laughed that his stage partner adapted perfectly to the situation. On trips to “Open Couple” performances, she always had a pillow with her.
“As soon as she sits in the back seat, hugs that pillow, and is already asleep,” the actor smiled.
They laughed together telling how differently they valued the trips. For Giedrius, traveling to distant Lithuanian cities felt long, while Toma was just happy: the further from Vilnius, the more much-needed sleep was expected.
And once the actress got into the car that came to pick her up crying and scared Giedrius quite a bit. “I see – she’s crying! I got scared, asked: what? What happened? And she said: I lost my phone! We all rushed to look for it, call it, and her mother finally found the phone,” Giedrius told the curious story.
But he suddenly became serious recalling another incident: the most dangerous and the one that caused the most fear not only to them both but also to the entire creative team and backstage crew.
It happened in Vilnius, during a performance. “I’m acting, saying my lines, I turn to Toma, and she – disappeared,” Giedrius recalls. For a second, the actor didn’t understand what happened, but quickly realized – his partner had fallen off a rather high stage!
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Toma Vaškevičiūtė said that before each performance she traditionally walks the stage, measuring the distances between her standing places and the edge of the stage with her steps. This is necessary because the stage lights do not allow actors to clearly see the hall.
Toma feels comfortable on stage and is well oriented there, but that time in Vilnius something went wrong. The actress stood closer to the edge of the stage and stepped forward further than usual. A moment – and she was already down next to the audience.
Highly professional and experienced Toma Vaškevičiūtė not only managed to fall elegantly but also did not get confused or drop the role. Quickly jumping to her feet, with Giedrius’s help, she managed to return to the stage.
Thanks to the professionalism of both actors, the situation was so successfully integrated into the comedy action that the laughing audience did not even realize it was not staged.
Toma Vaškevičiūtė’s fall ended very successfully – the actress did not suffer any injuries. After this incident, additional safety measures were taken, and now the likelihood of actors accidentally falling off the stage is almost nonexistent.
“Open Couple”: 11 18 – Alytus Cultural Center; 12 08 – Klaipėda, Fishermen’s Hall; 12 12 – Marijampolė Cultural Center; 12 16 – Vilnius, “Compensa” Concert Hall; 12 22 – Šiauliai, “Saulė” Concert Hall; 12 30 – Kaunas, VDU Main Hall; 01 02 – Palanga Concert Hall. Tickets – at manobilietas.lt.
The comedy “Open Couple” is based on the famous Italian play “Coppia Aperta, quasi Spalancata” (authors Dario Fo, Franca Rame, Jacopo Fo). The director of the performance is Antanas Obcarskas.
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