Pagal Williamo Shakespeareʼo dramą „Venecijos pirklys“ „VENECIJOS PIRKLĖ“ Rež. Agnius Jankevičius

"The Merchant of Venice"

Based on William Shakespeare's comedy "The Merchant of Venice"

Premiere - 2025 December 7.

Performance in Russian with Lithuanian subtitles

Musical political tragifarce

This interpretation of William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" by Agniaus Jankevičius is not a historical stylization, you will not find a renaissance in the scenography and costumes, let alone "pure" Shakespearean dramaturgy. The performance is a reflection of today's political, social and mental tensions.

The space of the performance radiates today, clear references to today's world and Lithuanian politics, explores power structures and processes, the collision of the powerful and the marginalized, delving into the topic of division, the polarization of society. The show is social, uncomfortable, goes against the current, hits the painful points of society.

The audience will most likely recognize the political figures, but their images only help embody the idea - what is happening, how power relations affect us, how the flywheels of this mechanism move. Above the stage, a black sphere is the image of lingering evil, pop culture, political icons, and the landscape of modernity become the visual core of the performance. Or maybe all problems can be solved simply by the votes of the voters - 3000 souls of the dead?

According to the director Agniaus Jankevičius, a person no longer feels complete by himself, he feels "full" only when connecting, bumping into each other, receiving or taking something from another or others: "In this interpretation, the aspirations and desires of both individual characters and their groups are marked by differences. The elite and the people between big and small, more men and less men, superstars and those who look up to them. All the characters are looking for an object of their passion, i.e. an audience to whom they can speak, other anointed ones are looking for a change for themselves because they are endlessly looking for a son to pass on the lunch ration and make a compromise with conscience."

As is typical of the director's productions of recent years, music plays an important role, music performed live - with certain reservations, the performance could also be called a musical drama, or more precisely - a musical political tragi-farce.

Agnius Jankevičius - theater director, actor, pedagogue, one of the leaders of the middle generation of Lithuanian theater directing, for more than 20 years directed performances in many Lithuanian professional theaters, created roles in theater and cinema. A. Jankevičius staged the plays: "Cursed Love" (2010), "Gronholm's Method" (2013), "Ice" (2015), "Idiot" (2018), "Martyr" (2024), "Reforma" (2024) in the Old Theater of Vilnius. The director's performances are characterized by deformed images of the characters, sharpened plastic and vocal expression, critical political and social stance, and an effort to understand and convey the worldliness of his generation. The director is interested in a person outside society, an outsider, a misfit.

(William Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice". Translated from English by Vytautas P. Bložė (1962)

Thank you for your help to the Lithuanian Sign Language Translation Center.

Telman Ragimova photo

On the AllEvents portal you can always Buy tickets to an event Theater Pagal Williamo Shakespeareʼo dramą „Venecijos pirklys“ „VENECIJOS PIRKLĖ“ Rež. Agnius Jankevičius, Vilnius, Vilniaus senasis teatras November 29

* The description translation is done automatically. There may be inaccuracies. Be sure to check the event description on the ticket store website when buying tickets.