We want to be BIG, we want to live in a BIG city, we long for BIG ideas. The myth of BIG Šiauliai has haunted the city for centuries. This is why there have always been attempts to "enlarge" Šiauliai. This and many other little-heard facts, stories and personalities will be the subject of the story of GREAT ŠIAULI. Perhaps a self-ironic look will help to dispel the phantoms of GREATNESS that still haunt us from the past? 

Specially created for this festival, BIG Šiauliai is a piece of work of a genre that is difficult to describe. It is not a "real" performance or a traditional guided tour. Usually, in guided tours we learn about the past, but in theatre we meet ourselves. The authors of this piece have combined both elements, so the questions of where we come from and who we are cannot be avoided. BIG ŠIAULIAI invites us to take a journey through the eras and the history of the city in order to better understand ourselves. 

The main authors and conceivers of this guided performance - writer Rimantas Kmita and professional guide Donatas Jokūbaitis - are still Šiauliaians in their hearts, who care about the city's history and the present day. Together they invite you to explore the phenomenon of GREAT ŠIAULI, to look for signs of the city's prosperity and potential today. During the walk-performance, Šiauliai's historical personalities will come to life, embodied by the actors of the State Šiauliai Drama Theatre. Thus, BIG ŠIAULIAI is both a performance and a guided walk. It is a walk and a walk and a tour - a walk and a walk, a walk and a walk. It is real facts and fantasies, reality and fictions, where the past and the present merge into a seamless experience of the world, of the city, and of the perception of oneself.