INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
at the Blackstone Theatre
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At the International Theatre Festival this audience attitude was most apparent in reaction to the productions of the State Theatre of Lithuania. From the beginning weeks of the festival, any mention of their projected appearance in Chicago would spark the question, “Are they still coming?” When a problem with their visas delayed their arrival by a few days, rumors circulated of sinister obstacles erected by their governments–a bureaucratic bungle on the part of our government created the delay, but why spoil the opportunity for a good political shudder? Yet what brought even the most phlegmatic of audience members to their feet on the first STL opening night was not just relief that the company had made it, but acclamation for the jet-lagged troupe’s willingness to play less than 24 hours after climbing off the plane from Vilnius. Now that’s heroic, political or not.
There are other memorable moments. A guard teases the prisoner by waving the visitation permit in front of his face, until he catches it in his teeth and refuses to let go. She, facing him, seems calm, but her back is to us and we can see her hands fluttering behind her in nervous agitation. He pulls himself up the side of his tall prison bed, using only his arms so that he seems to glide up as effortlessly as a tree snake. Again and again I was struck by the sheer originality of the staging, the number of choreographic turns–the like of which I cannot recall ever having seen before. The Square surely ranks as one of the best plays of this year’s festival.
