FOR CHILDREN | Animals and Lives (Evening G)

Animals and Lives – a concert by Teatras P, a poetic performance for children. Actors Balys Ivanauskas and Artūras Dubaka have created a concert-performance drawing on poems by Lithuanian writers Sigitas Geda, Anzelmas Matutis, Marius Marcinkevičius, Alma Karosaitė and Justinas Marcinkevičius, together with their own childhood stories, in which real and imagined tales lead into the world of dreams. Here, going about their days, hares, cows and kings have adventures and (how unexpected) run into tricky problems that must be solved here and now.

But will they manage? Theatre critic Dovilė Zaveckaitė on this performance: “The poetic-musical event for children ‘Evening G – Animals and Lives’, created by actors Balys Ivanauskas and Dubaka, is – as is by now customary for their Teatras P – astonishing in its ability to make poetry interesting to today's children. The stories and delights of animals and lives are built from poems by Geda, Anzelmas Matutis, Marius Marcinkevičius, Alma Karosaitė and Justinas Marcinkevičius, and from their own childhood memories.

For instance, from a dream about an aunt and a devil that turned out to be prophetic, or from a dream about a white horse that ran for hours on end, ran and ran and ran – and if anyone still hasn't quite grasped it: that horse only ran, all that time it just ran, and it was so very interesting! The vitality and enthusiasm of these two actors – towards poetry, towards fresh cabbages and cauliflowers, or towards their bond with children – is engaging and enviable.

But most importantly, they never for a moment lose their relationship with the word; to them, the word itself is the most interesting thing of all. I would venture that these actors believe in the mystical creative power of the word – you say a word, and a world comes into being. On stage, ‘Evening G – Animals and Lives’ truly brings forth what lives quietly, modestly and secretly inside poems: all those little horses sprouting in the vegetable garden, all those fire-kindling little fish and speechless cows.” About the creators:

• Balys Ivanauskas – actor and director, working actively in several Lithuanian theatres (Stalo teatras, the Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre, the Kaunas City Chamber Theatre and others); several productions have been nominated for the Golden Stage Cross awards. He is also engaged in teaching – he leads theatre classes for children. Founder of Teatras P.
• Artūras Dubaka – actor, composer, songwriter and performer who has won a number of awards for his work. Alongside his theatre work, he is also a member of the Clown Doctors organisation. Founder of Teatras P. The mission of Teatras P is to present poetry in such a way that even those who never read it come to love it, so we welcome not only poetry lovers but also those who are not! Creators: Balys Ivanauskas and Artūras Dubaka. Duration: 45 min. Age: 5–10 years.