Tour by Estonia's „Südalinna“ Theatre – Marius Ivaškevičius „Dawn of the Gods“

The Estonian director Elmo Nüganen staged the play „Dawn of the Gods“ by the internationally renowned Lithuanian playwright Marius Ivaškevičius at the „Südalinna“ Theatre (Tallinn). The performance is shown in two casts – with Russian and Estonian actors. The play premiered on 30 May 2025 in the Grand Hall of the „Südalinna“ Theatre in Russian. E. Nüganen's production received the highest critical acclaim. Incidentally, even before the premiere, M. Ivaškevičius's play about the fate of women and love against the backdrop of war was recognised at the international „EURODRAM“ competition as one of the best in Europe, as well as the best play of 2024 translated into German. The full-scale war against Ukraine caught the Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravičius in East Africa, in Uganda. There he was filming his new feature-length film, in which his beloved Ana, who came from Ukraine, also acted. Mantas wanted to turn a new page in life – to give up his current work as a maker of documentary films in war zones around the world and begin a normal life: to marry Ana and have children. That was to be their new life, but war intervened. When the Russian army approached Mariupol, Mantas realised that he could no longer live as an ordinary person: in Mariupol he knew those people, he was making a film about them. And when the city was surrounded, he went there to finish the film. Ana went with him. He managed to work, to film for several weeks, and then fell into the hands of the Russian army and was killed. Ana did not know this; she searched for her missing husband in a war-torn city, where bullets flew and bombs fell on both sides of the front line, until at last she was shown the place of his death. She managed to escape in secret and to take out all the documentary material and her husband's body, reaching Lithuania. Later the film was edited in Paris and titled „Mariupolis 2“. Its author was posthumously awarded the European Film Award for Best Documentary Film. „I did not have a play of the kind I wanted to stage. Marius Ivaškevičius, on learning of this, said that he had one. And so we are working so that society speaks about these themes, so that it does not forget, so that we do not sweep everything under the carpet, so that we do not 'grow tired'. What could we possibly grow tired of? We live in conditions of peace. It is a different matter for the people at the front. And what right do we have to be tired? It seems foolish and arrogant. It is idiocy. I think now is the very time to speak about this.“ (Elmo Nüganen). Marius Ivaškevičius is a Lithuanian writer, playwright, director and author of documentary films. His plays are widely staged in theatres around the world. His more notable plays: „Malysh“, „The Neighbouring Town“, „Madagascar“, „Expulsion: The Chronicle of One Apple“, „Mistras“, „Kant“, „Great Evil“, „The Sleepers“. The play „Russian Novel“ was staged in 2019 also at the Old Theatre of Vilnius (dir. O. Koršunovas), and a sketch of the play „Dawn of the Gods“ was staged in 2022 (dir. V. Gurfinkel). He wrote the short-story collection „What Are Children For“ and the novels „A Story from a Cloud“, „The Green Ones“, „Thomas Mooar“, „Expulsion: The London Needle“. He has been awarded the Literature Prize of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (2005), the Order „For Merits to Lithuania“ (2014), the Golden Stage Cross (2015), the Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė Commemorative Medal (2017) and the Lithuanian National Prize (2018). Elmo Nüganen is an Estonian theatre actor and director. Since 1992 he has been the principal director of the Tallinn City Theatre. His more important productions: W. Shakespeare's „Romeo and Juliet“ (1992) and „Hamlet“ (1999), A. Dumas's „The Three Musketeers“ (1995) and „ The Three Musketeers. Twenty Years After“ (2001), A. Chekhov's „Pianola, or the Mechanical Piano“ (1995), F. Dostoevsky's „Crime and Punishment“ (1999), W. Gombrowicz's „The Marriage“ (2004), A. H. Tammsaare's „Truth and Justice. Part Two“ (2005) and „Karin. Indrek. Truth and Justice. Part Four“ (2006). He directed the feature films: „Names in Marble / Nimed marmortahvlil“ (2002), „1944“ (2015). For his work he has been honoured with awards both in Estonia and abroad.

Adresas: Vilniaus senasis teatras