WHITE FAIRY TALES || A Shadow-Theatre Performance for Children

White Fairy Tales is a shadow-theatre performance based on fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Choosing this genre of puppet theatre, which is rare today, director Nijolė Indriūnaitė and designer Aušra Bagočiūnaitė Paukštienė have created a clear, luminous production that revives the paper-cutting traditions of Lithuania and other European nations.

For her poetic play, N. Indriūnaitė drew on three Christmas fairy tales by H. C. Andersen: The Little Match Girl, The Fir Tree and The Snowman. In this lyrical shadow-theatre production, the director asks audiences what a celebration is and what it means to us. Each of us understands a celebration in our own way... But how do a lonely little Girl and a Fir Tree cut down in the forest experience a celebration?

Theatre critic Audronė Girdzijauskaitė wrote about the production: “That day, the shadow-theatre performance in Lėlė's small auditorium seemed perfect to me, even though this form of theatre has no firmly established tradition in Lithuania: the proportions of the objects, the grace of the silhouettes, the lighting, the clarity of the language and the lyrical tone (without sentimentality!), the rhythms of movement and the changing imagery, and the subtle acting style of Almira Grybauskaitė and Elvyra Piškinaitė moved me to tears. A production like this can be shown to everyone, everywhere.” (“Neramus kovas, arba Nemąstanti kasdienybė”, “Literatūra ir menas”, 2007-03-16)