SŪNUS. Rež. Ignas Jonynas

Florian Zeller Director: Ignas Jonynas Set Designer: Sigita Šimkūnaitė Costume Designer: Sandra Straukaitė Composer: Jonas Jurkūnas Choreographer: Martynas Rimeikis Lighting Designer: Andrius Stasiulis American Step Choreographer: Auksuolė Varkulevičienė />Vocal teacher: Raminta Lampsatytė Translation of the play from French: Akvilė Melkūnaitė Assistant director: Matas Makauskas Cast: Martynas Berulis, Aleksas Kazanavičius, Matas Makauskas, Paulina Taujanskaitė, Juozas Pocius, Neringa Varnelytė Director Ignas Jonynas made his debut at the Youth Theater three decades ago. But later he turned to cinematography and became one of the most interesting creators of contemporary Lithuanian cinema. In the breaks between the creation of the new film, I. Jonyns returned to the Youth Theater. For the new production, he chose the play "Son" by the contemporary French playwright Florian Zeller. This is the last part of the dramatic trilogy that made F. Zeller famous (the other two are "Father" and "Mama"). This playwright, who conquers the world's stages, delves into topics that are sensitive and relevant to many, rooted in the everyday life of a common family. They are related to the psychological and spiritual traumas of modern man, which are hidden because they do not meet the standards formed by society. F. Zeller was inspired to create the play "Sūnus" by his personal experience. He has two sons and dedicated the play to one of them who suffered from mental illness. "I am familiar with these emotions and I am not unfamiliar with some situations. As a parent, I felt powerless - it felt like you were all alone. In "Sūna" I share my emotions, I try to help those who are experiencing them and fight against the shame they experience." - Says F. Zeller. It was important for him to talk about mental disability, removing the taboo: “we should talk about it openly, feeling that we are not alone in this journey, and that there is no shame in asking for help when we are in a crisis. So many people are in pain right now. It seems that we are going through a major health crisis after covid, and many do not know how to deal with it, also because they feel guilt and shame." Unlike in the play "The Father", in writing "The Son", Zeller aimed for a clear linear action leading to a predictable finale. In this way, he tried to bring the action of the play closer to a classical tragedy, in which the established line cannot be changed anymore. Through it, the playwright poses an obvious question to the characters of the play, primarily to the divorced parents of the teenager Nikolia, from which it is impossible to escape in any way. And it doesn't explain anything: "the young man feels pain and we don't know why. The play does not answer this question. I think this is the most correct way because it reflects life. Sometimes there are no explanations and it's hard to accept a mystery like a black hole, because you're always looking for answers, explanations, and when you don't find them, you start thinking - "What did I, as a father, do that this happened to my son?" According to director I. Jonynos, "The main hero of the play "Sūnus" is not the teenager Nikolia, around whom the entire plot revolves, but his father Pierre. Because it is he who, after divorcing his son's mother, started to create a new family, experiences the biggest challenge in life. Not fully realizing, or maybe subconsciously not wanting to acknowledge his son's mental state, the father at the same time tries to save him from the last, until finally he gets confused in his own life. Divorced parents' love for their son, without being able to understand him, leads to a tragic end." According to Jonynos, "in our lives, like the hero of the play Pierre, we often claim that "everything will be fine", "everything will be fine". Who will manage? Our genetic code? Life? Everyday life? Collapsing relationships? The future? All these questions fatally hang over the play's heroes, and it is then that its essential thematic axis is formed - how, in order to be happy, we make our loved ones, and at the same time, ourselves, unhappy. In order to get out of this impasse and schematic solutions for rescue (rescue), perhaps you need to look for a radically different relationship to your ego, an effort to once again perceive life as the essential value of human existence, and, if it is still possible, to try to discover the paradox that would leave us with the hope of a humanistic world, a world in which one would want to stay and not leave..."

Premiere: 2024 February 2
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