Premiere: May 12, 2017
Playwright: Jaroslava Pulinovič
Translated from Russian by Gintaras Grajauskas
Director: Povilas Gaidys
Set Designer: Artūras Šimonis
Composer: Martynas Bialobžeskis
Assistant Director: Rasa Naujokienė
Cast:
Elzė Aleksandrova – Regina Šaltenytė
Vasilijus Ignatjevičius – Igoris Reklaitis
Olga – Renata Idzelytė
Dasha – Toma Gailiutė
Marina – Sigutė Gaudušytė
Viktor – Linas Lukošius
Izabela – Simona Šakinytė
Zinaida Mikhailovna – Vida Kojelytė
Taisija Petrovna – Irena Simonaitytė
Yaroslava Pulinovič (b. 1987), a young Russian playwright, has already won numerous literary awards (“Voice of the Generation,” “Debut,” “Eurasia,” “Golden Mask,” and others). She has her own style; her plays are written as if in a single burst of inspiration—honestly and passionately. “Pulinovič is a playwright of vital energy, the life force that she discovers anew in each of her characters. Essentially, it is the desire for a life lived to the fullest that transforms them into heroes,” says Russian theater critic Pavel Rudnev. Plays based on the playwright’s works are staged in England, the U.S., Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, and in many theaters across Russia.
“Elze’s Land” is a true story that the author’s grandmother told her. All of the play’s characters are based on real people. It is a moving story about people’s lives and relationships in a small Siberian village. The play’s heroine, Elze, is a German woman living in Russia who endured a difficult life during the war and postwar years, but at the age of 76 falls in love for the first time. Her chosen one, Vasily, is a cheerful man, a geography teacher who has spent half his life telling his students about the seas and mountains, though he himself has never seen them. Now they have each other and dream of traveling the world together; unfortunately, things aren’t turning out so simply… This is the story of a seventy-year-old Romeo and Juliet—it may seem unbelievable, but it’s real.
In 2017, at the D. Tamulevičiūtė Professional Theater Festival in Varėna, the production won the most awards—a total of four! The production won the “Audience Choice Award.” Artūras Šimonis was named Best Set Designer; Renata Idzelytė received the “Best Supporting Actress” award; and Povilas Gaidys was named “Best Director.”
