Marius Repšys is one of the most famous actors of the Lithuanian National Drama Theater. He has played Vandal in Expulsion, Laurynas in The Cathedral and many other memorable roles in theater as well as cinema, and has won prestigious awards for his acting.
In the past few years, Marius Repšys has become famous not only as an actor, but also as a person struggling with universal problems familiar to many. The actor speaks, boldly and openly, about depression and episodes of psychosis he has been going through since childhood.
Are the artist’s talent and mental problems two sides of the same coin? Is it true that being an actor or an artist in general is not only rewarding, but sometimes also damaging, something that inflicts wounds and then draws inspiration from them? If so, how can the damage be reduced and is it necessary to do so?
In the play, the audience is invited to a very close encounter with the actor, to take a journey deep into the subconscious mind, drinking from the sources of memory, fighting with shadows, having fun with the anima, searching for one’s own god.
Marius Repšys is an actor, so he will play a role. But how does one play himself? Or maybe all we do is play and our “I” is a set of constantly changing roles that can be adapted to different circumstances? Then perhaps we should ask a different question: is it possible not to play yourself? How many masks do we have to take off before we can finally see our real face?
In these questions, as in the performance, theater intertwines with life. But theater is a place where madness is allowed, and in life we tend not to accept it. The creative team of the performance believes that life has a lot to learn from theater on this matter.
