The director of the young theater generation, Augustas Gornatkevičius, chose Harold Pinter's play "Alaska" for his new play at the Juoz Miltinis Drama Theater. The play by one of the most influential representatives of contemporary dramaturgy, the English playwright who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, is characterized by restrained, economical dialogue and pauses that convey more than words. Pauses that are important not only for the text, but also for the story being told.

There are plenty of examples in art when, during global catastrophes and epidemics, creators turn to the genres of fantasy and futurism. Our pandemic time is no exception, which has recently sparked a huge interest in zombie apocalypse-themed movies. However, a more subtle and often encountered theme even in Lithuanian theater is the separation of the individual and the state of sleep. An isolated person who does not control his time and life becomes a reflection of our state of mind today.

Thus, in its own time (1982), next to the legendary zombies of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Pinter's "Alaska" appeared, which describes an epidemic of sleep. This real-life disease was last recorded 100 years ago, as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic. It is not surprising that as the current pandemic subsides, we are taking images close to us that speak of the consequences and lingering effects of past trauma.

The exciting story of one woman's fate affects the viewer both emotionally, trying to identify and live with her feelings, and symbolically. Sleeping sickness becomes a tool for the playwright, and at the same time for the director, to talk about understanding the flow of life, maturity as stagnation and lost human time.

"A Kind of Alaska" was inspired by Awakenings by Oliver Sachs MD, first published in 1973 by Gerald Duckworth and Co.

The project is partially financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Culture Council.