Every performance by Rimos Tumins is born from the inner life of the Little Theater, its rhythm, moods and needs. Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", which appeared at the very end of 2002, was also not an accident in the repertoire of this theater. Born in the unfinished theater premises, the performance not only conveyed the moods and expectations of the theater people, but also seemed to grow out of that poor, mysterious vaulted space.
While still rehearsing, the director insisted on calling "Waiting for Godot" not a performance, but a "theatrical evening". This impression of an incomplete stage work that does not penetrate a specific interpretation was preserved even after the release of the premiere. The director, together with set designer Adams Jacovskis, composer Faustus Latėnas and actors Andrius Žebrauskas, Arvydas Dapšias, Mindaugs Cap, Balis Latėnas and Daumantas Ciunis, immerses the audience in a very thick and evocative atmosphere and invites them to get involved in a gourmet stage game, to witness the birth of theater.
In the performance, full of playfulness, improvisation, laughter and at the same time - a strange "dreaminess", it is not the director, but the actors who rule. The improvisational virtuoso Andrias Žebrauskas and Arvydas Dapšis, who is in no way inferior to him, the seemingly inexhaustible acting possibilities capture the audience's attention and force them to experience the most diverse emotions.
Although Tumin is interested in the theatrical side of life or life as theater, in the performance he turns the theater itself into life. The director gives the acting inclination of Vladimir and Estragon, the main characters of the play, the character of a naive and sincere play, the apparently theatrical situations of the play - life-like credibility, and he "lightens" Beckett's language games, making them the characters' own. One of the biggest surprises of the play, and at the same time its advantages, is that Vladimir and Estragon, who are usually depicted on stage as deformed and soulless automatons of life, are here full-blooded, whole, full of life characters.
Walking into any theater where Waiting for Godot is playing, it's common to immediately feel an icy chill. From the stage of the Little Theater comes freedom, life and excitement of creativity. In front of our eyes is the unremarkable everyday life of two friends, in which there is everything - joys, disappointments, and nostalgia. And the mystical Godot seems to be just a valid excuse for the two friends to stay together. "It is clear that the characters will not hang out before seeing Godot's performance, they will find something to do and will always stay together. They will come up with "small joys" and turn them into a theater of everyday life that will help them survive. Because that's the credo of the Little Theater led by Tumins", wrote theater expert Audronis Liuga.
