Theatre production | „LAUKINĖ ANTIS“. Directed by Oskaras Koršunovas

Director: Oskaras Koršunovas
Set designer: Gintaras Makarevičius
Costume designer: Agnė Kuzmickaitė
Composer: Antanas Jasenka
Lighting designer: Eugenijus Sabaliauskas
Video artist: Rimas Sakalauskas
Dramaturg: Goda Simonaitytė
Choreographer: Vesta Rasa Grabštaitė
Director’s assistant: Tauras Čižas
Translated from Norwegian by: Eglė Išganaitytė
Cast: Donatas Želvys, Valentinas Novopolskis, Neringa Varnelytė, Aldona Bendoriūtė, Andrius Bialobžeskis, Sergejus Ivanovas, Vytautas Anužis, Valerijus Jevsejevas, Gintautė Rusteikaitė, Nerijus Gadliauskas, Ignas Ciplijauskas, Karolis Kasperavičius

This production of H. Ibsen’s drama, directed by Oskaras Koršunovas, continues the consistent repertoire strategy of the State Youth Theatre. In exploring contemporary people and the psychological and philosophical themes relevant to them, the theatre turns to important and complex works of world literature and drama.

H. Ibsen’s play „Laukinė antis“ tells of the Ekdal family, whose seemingly happy everyday life is disrupted by a visitor from the past. Gregers Werle, determined to tell the truth at all costs, reveals certain secrets about each of the family members’ pasts and destroys the illusion of a happy family and home. Gregers is firmly convinced that he brings the truth, and this becomes a family tragedy. The recovering wild duck kept in the Ekdals’ attic becomes a symbol of this family, supposedly trapped in illusion and lies.

This staging of „Laukinė antis“ is not only the Youth Theatre’s return to the themes and philosophy of Ibsen’s dramas, interpreted on its stage several times, but also O. Koršunovas’s symbolic attempt to dive once more into familiar dramatic material. It also marks the director’s return to the theatre where, more than 35 years ago, he found a home for his debut work on a professional stage, the play To Be Here (Exacerbations).

Director O. Koršunovas: The more the world falls apart, the clearer the divide between truth and justice becomes. The more “righteous people” appear, the less justice remains. When post-truth or propaganda replaces truth, when ideologies determine justice, when truth gets tangled up in social networks and justice is administered through likes and algorithms, it is time for theatre to turn to morality. And to speak about it in the way only theatre can: with the utmost perfectionism, emotional purity and intellectual clarity. I can think of no more fitting play than Ibsen’s „Laukinė antis“. It simply needs to be brought into the present so that the play’s moral tension rings out in the words and signs of today.

Premiere: 1 October 2025

More about the performance