VMT premiere | TRUKDIS

Inspired by Tove Ditlevsen’s novel The Faces

TRUKDIS

Translated from Danish by Aurelija Bivainytė

Play in two parts (age 16+)

Approximate duration: 1 hour 50 minutes (including interval)

Premiere: 19 March 2026

Director: Justinas Vinciūnas

Dramaturg: Gabrielė Česevičiūtė

Set designer: Erminas Mikšys

Costume designer: Leo Domas Sanz Čekuolis

Composer: Natas Kunas

Lighting designer: Julius Kuršys

Assistant director: Simona Ševčenkaitė

Cast:

LISĖ MUNDUS – Dovilė Šilkaitytė

GERTAS / DOCTOR – Tomas Stirna

GITĖ – Indrė Patkauskaitė

DWARF – Daumantas Ciunis

NADIA / KNITTING WOMAN – Jūratė Brogaitė

TECHNICIANS – Tomas Kliukas, Domas Urbonavičius.

“Trukdis” asks: what happens when a person begins to follow their sensitivity and intuition in a world where everything has its own rules, clear expectations and principles of being?

The question is posed by one of the most distinctive and compelling theatre directors of the younger generation, Justinas Vinciūnas, who received the Golden Stage Cross in 2025 as best emerging artist. His creative biography includes two plays based on works by Nobel Prize in Literature laureates, a play based on African drama, and a work based on a journalistic chronicle.

The creative process explored the biography of one of the most distinctive voices in Danish literature, Tove Ditlevsen, and the themes of her novel The Faces (1968). These elements became the creative starting point and, through their themes, shaped the play’s dramatic core.

At the centre of the action is Lisė Mundus, an artist exhausted by the reality around her. Feeling the world around her begin to sway and, in its concreteness, approach the absurd, Lisė begins to seek a crack: a space where the tension of “being someone” gives way to a longed-for calm, the freedom to be enough without constant judgement or pressure from another person’s consciousness. But every step towards freedom has a price. And most often, that price is the person beside you.

In this play, the characters from the novel gain sovereignty: they are no longer bound by the plot of The Faces, finding themselves in different situations or sharing thoughts that the novel seems to leave unspoken. The play’s creation is therefore based on a game in which a character crosses the limits of their own words. The novel’s autobiographical nature also blurs the boundary between its author and the character she creates. This became a central element of the production, where the line between character and performer is visibly uncertain. These principles invite the creation of a strange theatrical language, modelled almost from everyday situations, which seems to reveal the longing for freedom hidden beneath apparent reality.

“Trukdis” invites the audience to discuss: what is the cost of remaining faithful to the principles of one’s personal truth? Is trusting one’s sensitivity a creative or destructive force? And, finally, might what seems like an obstacle within us be a chance to rekindle a passion for life lost somewhere along the way?

In 2025, the production won the DramaTest Residency, the State Vilnius Small Theatre’s platform for modern dramaturgy and the search for new stage forms.

In Denmark, Tove Ditlevsen’s novel The Faces was published by Gyldendal; rights are represented by Gyldendal Group Agency.