“The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Photo by Laura Vancevičienė

Director, artist and creator of puppet theatre Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė (b. 1981) studied theatre and event directing at Klaipėda University where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in 2004, followed by a Master’s degree in 2006. She further trained at puppet theatre courses in France and Germany.

Since 2004, she has been working at Klaipėda Puppet Theatre of which she is the artistic director and where she creates performances for children and adults. Radvilavičiūtė has created performances at Vilnius Youth Theatre, Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, Liepaja Puppet Theatre (Latvia), Bialystok Puppet Theatre (Poland) and Vilnius Puppet Theatre Lėlė. In total, there are more than two dozen puppet theatre performances behind Radvilavičiūtė’s creative belt. In 2015, the director was awarded the Golden Cross of the Stage for the performance for adults Smėlio žmogus (Sand Man).

For ten years, between (2005–2015), Radvilavičiūtė was the artistic director of the International puppet theatre festival Karakumų asilėlis (Karakum Donkey). Since 2009, she is the artistic director of theatre at the Ethnic Culture Centre Dovilai. She also participates in art exhibitions, international puppet theatre festivals and is a member of the Lithuanian Centre of UNIMA.

One of the director’s latest works in Lithuania is the performance The Picture of Dorian Gray (2018) at the Vilnius Puppet Theatre Lėlė. It is a performance without words for young people and adults, based freely and associatively on Oscar Wilde’s renowned 1890 work. The performance draws on the theme of the duality of the human personality and its self-destruction, which is revealed through playing with reflections of the human body in mirrors and replacing famous characters of the novel with miniature copies of more or less famous sculptures. Instead of creating a linear narrative, the lines of the performance characters existing within the frame of a painting that appear in subtitles rather allude to the novel and comment on art and creativity in general.

gintare.radvilaviciute@gmail.com

www.klaipedosleliuteatras.lt