"Jonas Sobieskis" is a performance of Lithuanian drama that turns to important themes of everyday life. The play deals with the still "uncomfortable" topic of domestic alcoholism and the freedom of the human decision to change the situation.
"John Sobieski is a hero who defeated himself. Deciding to get out of the debilitating quagmire and not to drink alcohol, he, like a biblical character, fights addiction with a choir of angels, wreaking havoc on his family and society", says director Albertas Vidžiūnas.
The grotesque drama of an over-saturated hero drowning in addictions opens up the sensitive issue of one man's freedom of self-determination. Faced with the freedom of choice, John Sobieski experiences great anxiety, and the space in which his thinking, emotions, will to achieve goals and ability to make independent decisions are expressed, determines the hostility of the environment and provokes conflicts. It is clear that freedom is a difficult gift that requires daily determination.
In life, we often hear YOU CAN, and in the play this is the leitmotif, the goal and the action that accompanied John Sobieski until his death.
Jonas Sobieski is the third part of Herkus Kunčius' triptych, written especially for the Alytus City Theatre. The first one, Not Children's Games (2017), reveals a realistic caricature of contemporary family relations, while the second one, Arena of Freedom (2018), explores the closed nature of a comfortable household and the confinement of modern life.