Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt „DVIEJŲ PASAULIŲ VIEŠBUTIS“ (Rež. Sigitas Račkys)

Drama in two parts (2 hours 30 minutes), performed in Russian with Lithuanian subtitles.

Érico-Emmanuel Schmitt's 1999. the play written "Hotel of Two Worlds" (pron. "Hôtel des deux mondes") is like an amalgamation of melodrama and magical fairy tale for adults. Coma sufferers of different social and age groups fall into a closed room labyrinth, a mysterious hotel from which it is impossible to escape. Although their real bodies are in hospitals, here they are physically healthy. Some know what happened to them, others realize it only in the present tense, but all are anxiously waiting for the fateful moment when they will be invited to the elevator, which will either go up - into nothingness, or go down - back to the world of the living.

After a car accident, Žiuljen Portalis gets to a "hotel" where he meets people he has never met before, thinks about life and death, and learns to love. The suggestive play, full of subtle humor and lyrical intonations, raises many moral and philosophical issues. What is life, how does a person waste it?

Before the premiere of "Hotel of Two Worlds", the author of the play said that his philosophy is existentialism, the opposite of Jean-Paul Sartre, but closer to Blaise Pascal and Soren Kierkegaard. According to the playwright, there is nothing absurd in the universe, there is only a mystery in which the reasons for faith lie. É.-E. Schmitt's dialogues are exceptional: masterful, subtle, the playwright is able to speak simply about complex matters. These are signs of talent.

The composer of the play Giedrius Puskunigis in 2008. for the music for this drama and William Shakespeare's drama "The Tempest" (dir. Etienne Glaser) he won the "Golden Cross of the Stage". By the way, one of the most prominent actors of the Vilnius Old Theater - Vladimir Jefremov (1942-2009) - played in this performance.

"Director S. Račkys evaluates himself, the characters of the play and the audience without discrimination - as people, simple, sinful, whose life story is worthy of love and respect. And this greatly helps the performance's connection with the audience, as it allows them to identify with the characters based on experience and desires. There are sentiments - almost all the characters in the performance shed a tear (maybe even the more sensitive hearts in the hall). (Ridas Viskauskas)

"One of the successes of the performance is the escape from domesticity. The artist R. Valčik has created an aesthetic environment with minimal means, reminiscent of both a waiting room and a hospital. Small people in a large space. A huge creaking elevator in the depth of the stage drives and frightens the hero. The actors almost have to turn their backs to play the anxious, fear-filled journey to I don't know - to take a dozen steps towards the elevator. The plastic sterility of the environment is also accentuated by the rhythmic movement of two confident and melting figures. And G. Puskunigi's music, without forcing emotions, gives the performance an aesthetic solidity." (Ridas Viskauskas)

Composer Giedrius Puskunigis won the "Golden Stage Cross" (2008) for the music for Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's drama "The Hotel of Two Worlds", directed by Sigitas Račkys (Vilnius Old Theater) and William Shakespeare's drama "The Tempest", directed by Etienne Glaser (State Theater of Vilnius theater).

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Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt (b. 1960) is a French writer, director, and one of the most popular contemporary playwrights. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages, and his plays are constantly performed on stages around the world. Often É.-E. Schmitt is called "expert of the human soul". He wrote his first play "Night in Wallonia" in 1991, and his second play "The Guest" (he was awarded the Molière prize in 1994) brought him greater success. Other notable dramas of his: "Golden Joe", "Mysterious Variations", "Frederick or the Boulevard of Crime", "The Freeman", "Hotel of Two Worlds". in the old theater of Vilnius according to É.-E. Schmitt's plays have been staged in the plays "The Promiscuous" (dir. G. Di Capua, 2005), "Oscar and Mrs. Rose" (dir. J. Laikova, 2015), "Smulkūs vydybiniai rudinimai" (dir. R. Banionis, 2024).

Sigitas Račkys (b. 1951) is a director, drama and film actor. The most prominent roles: Peter Pan ("Peter Pan" according to J. M. Barrie, 1976), Zilov ("Duck Hunt" by A. Vampilov, 1977), Lopachin ("The Cherry Orchard" by A. Chekhov, 1990), Galileo (B. Brecht's "Galileo", 1992), Dudak ("Smile on us, Lord" from G. Kanovich's novels motives, 1994),), Svidrigailov ("Crime and Punishment" according to F. Dostoyevsky, 2004). In Lithuanian theaters he directed the following plays: "Juozapas Šveikas" based on J. Hašek (2001), "Three Sisters" by A. Chekhov (2002), "Golden Calf" by I. Ilf and J. Petrov (2003), "Dugne" by M. Gorky (2004), "Duburys" based on R. Granauskas (2005), "Nora" by H. Ibsen (2007), É.-E. "Hotel of Two Worlds" by Schmitt (2007), "Widows" by S. Mrožek (2008).

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