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

"Merchant of Venice"

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

The premiere is in 2025. December 7

The show is in Russian with Lithuanian subtitles

A 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 renaissance in the scenography and costumes, let alone "pure" Shakespearean dramaturgy. The play is a reflection of today's political, social and mental tensions.
The space of the performance radiates today, clear references to today's politics of the world and Lithuania, explores power structures and processes, the collision of the powerful and the marginalized, delving into the topic of division, the polarization of society. The performance 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 the problems can be solved simply by bought voters' votes - 3000 dead souls?
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 difference between the elite and the people, the big and the small, more men and less men, superstars and those who look up to them. All the characters are going somewhere: Christians, the political elite 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 eager to escape to a better place, the father is looking for a son to hand over the lunch ration, the people are looking for a better life and make a compromise with their conscience.
As is typical of the director's productions of recent years, an important role is played by music, live music - with certain reservations, the play could be called a musical drama, or more precisely, a musical political tragi-farce.
Agnius Jankevičius is a theater director, actor, pedagogue, one of the leaders of the middle generation of Lithuanian theater directing, who has directed plays in many Lithuanian professional theaters for more than 20 years, 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. Directors are interested in a person who is 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 Ragimov's 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 February 26

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