Aliaska

Augustas Gornatkevičius, a director of the younger generation of theatre, chose Harold Pinter's play Alaska for his new production at the Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre. The play by one of the most influential representatives of contemporary drama, the English playwright and Nobel Prize winner, is characterised by restrained, economical dialogue and pauses that convey more than words. Pauses that are important not only to the text, but also to the story being told.

There are many examples in art where, in the face of global catastrophes and epidemics, creators turn to the genres of fantasy and futurism. Our pandemic period is no exception, having recently sparked enormous interest in films on the theme of the zombie apocalypse. However, a more subtle theme, often encountered even in Lithuanian theater, is that of individual isolation and the state of sleep. A person who is isolated and has no control over their time and life becomes a reflection of how we feel today.

Thus, in 1982, alongside Michael Jackson's legendary Thriller zombies, Pinter's Alaska appeared, describing a sleeping epidemic. This real-life disease was last recorded 100 years ago as a consequence of the Spanish flu pandemic. It is not surprising that as the current pandemic subsides, we turn to images that are close to us, speaking of the consequences and lasting effects of past trauma.

The moving story of one woman's fate affects the viewer both emotionally, as they try to identify with and empathise with her feelings, and symbolically. The sleeping sickness becomes a tool for the playwright and director to talk about the perception of the flow of life, maturity as stagnation, and lost human time.

"A Kind of Alaska" was inspired by Awakenings by Oliver Sachs MD, first published in 1973 by Gerald Duckworth and Co.

The project is partly funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Council for Culture.