On 4 April at 12.00, Lithuanian director Artūrs Areimas will hold a workshop for theatre professionals at Ģertrūdes ielas teātris.

Workshop for young professionals (theater directors) and students will include theoretical and practical parts.

The theoretical part - description of the practice that the director Artūras Areima himself encountered, sharing his experience with the directors. This part also includes participants' questions, what they are interested in and what they think about today's theater, directing, contemporary theater.

Practical tasks - intended to help discover the basics, from which one could start looking for self, one's own theatrical language. According to A. Areima, the most important moment for a director is to discover himself and his language in the theater, so that he does not try to copy and repeat other creators, but becomes a creator himself.

Theater director, scenographer Artūras Areima is one of the most interesting of the younger generation of theater artists in Lithuania. From 2017 Artūras Areima theater founder and director Artūras Areima is a candidate of The Europe Prize "New Theatrical Realities". The synthesis of these various approaches is the base of expression levels ranging from acting, to the audio-visual, spatial solutions. Artūras Areima’s performances are a unique expression in the theater directing field that might be difficult (if not impossible) to mistake with work of other directors. During the period of twenty years of Lithuania’s independence only few dramatic theater directors have succeeded to be outstanding in the field of Lithuanian theater. Artūras Areima’s artistic position balances between classical theater, epic theater and post-modern times performing traditions (with physical theater, contemporary dance related resolution, performative practices). Director is constantly looking for individual access to each of his work, taking into account the aesthetic and social transformations of reality. His creative existence so far might be generalized as ‘never-ending research of itself’.

Working language: English, Latvian
Registration by writing to arturs@git.lv

Workshop is financially supported by State Culture Capital Foundation.

On 15 and 16 February, the Theatre Ģertrūdes ielas teātris will premiere solo performance "hold me tight" by Artūrs Čukurs. A stage poem to objects and the force of gravity, made in aesthetics of visual theatre, is at once a personal story and a collective dedication to the memories we carry with us.

We often truly see things only when our relationship with them breaks down. A burnt-out light bulb, a smashed smartphone screen or a broken shoe heel make us realise how much we rely on the things around us and remind us of our interdependence. When a friendship ends, a long-lasting relationship breaks down or we lose a relative or loved one, we realise something similar: a breakup allows us to see what we have lost and appreciate it anew.

“hold me tight” is a fragment of the landscape of memories and a personal story about a heartbreak long time ago and a long farewell, necessary in order to seek new ways how to engage with the world and to be a part of it again.

"The performance is a collective dedication by the entire creative team to a very personal memory of a day that changed my life, leaving imprints that have had a great gravitational force on my subsequent experiences – they have shaped me and my relationship with the world around me. But the text is only one of the elements of the performance, woven into the movement, sound and visual composition," reveals the director and performer Artūrs Čukurs, "moreover, "hold me tight" is a solo performance only relatively, because besides me, it also involves a lot of objects, whose agency we have placed at the centre of the performance. The objects are active participants in the performance, inviting the audience to see ourselves as the sum of things, made up of the people, things and landscapes we encounter, the events we experience and the different textures, colours, sounds and moods we live in and carry with us."

Artūrs Čukurs is a Latvian theatre artist and musician working in various disciplines of contemporary performing arts. "Hold Me Tight will be his first solo performance. The director is working on the production together with dramaturge Sodja Zupanc Lotker, choreographer Alise Madara Bokalder, set designers Marta Madara Grantiņa and Beate Poikāne, and sound designer Alberts Levics.

The premiere in Latvian will take place on 15 and 16 February, while the premiere in English will take place on 14 March. The next performances in Latvian will take place on 12 and 13 March, 9 and 10 April. The production has been supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation.

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HOLD ME TIGHT
a poem for objects and the force of gravity

CREATIVE TEAM
director, performer: Artūrs Čukurs
dramaturge: Sodja Zupanc Lotker
choreographer: Alise Madara Bokaldere
scenographers: Marta Madara Grantiņa, Beate Poikāne
sound artist: Alberts Levics
visual identity: Aleksejs Beļeckis

producer: Ģertrūdes ielas teātris
premiere: 15/02/2024

Created with the financial support of the State Culture Capital Foundation.