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June 18, 2017

Students of the Academy of Arts of KU Founded the First in Lithuania and the Only in Europe Hand Shadow Theatre Budrugana Lietuva

This summer, the fans of the theatre art will be able to see the premiere Four Seasons of the first in Lithuania and the only in Europe professional hand shadow theatre Budrugana Lietuva (director: prof. Gela Kandelaki).

The founders of the theatre are the 3rd year students of Acting of the Department of Theatre Art, Academy of Arts, Klaipėda University and their leader assoc. prof. V. V. Landsbergis. The first performance of that exclusive theatre will be shown in the Klaipėda Culture Factory on June 16, and afterwards, in Kaunas City Chamber Theatre on June 17, in the Ramybė Club in Palanga on July 4, and in Nida Culture and Tourism Information Centre Agila, on July 5. On July 8-9, they will appear in Vytautas V. Landsbergis-organised Žalčiasalis Fairy Tales Festival, and on August 13-20, the theatre will have a hand shadow theatre camp in Paandrioniškis.The tour of the premiere performance Four Seasons of the first in Lithuania hand shadow theatre will end in the National Bard Festival A Purple Evening in Anykščiai on August 17.

The hand shadow theatre Budrugana Lietuva is nine actors, selected by Vytautas V. Landsbergis at Klaipėda University. During their studies of acting, they went to Georgia for two years to learn a unique language – the art of hand shadow theatre. The latter is unique by its performance technique : the actors only use their hands which create characters and tell stories. This unique theatrical technique exists only in Georgia, in the only in the world hand shadow theatre Budrugana Gagra, and starting with May 27, 2017, in the newly founded professional theatre Budrugana Lietuva in Klaipėda. The pioneer and founder of the hand shadow theatre in Georgia is a famous film and theatre actor, director Gela Kandelaki. He has made a film 0,0047 of Land, otherwise known as The Village, as well as the The Trouble, and he also played the key role in the film The Mocking Bird. Prof. Gela Kandelaki is a well-known film and theatre pedagogue in Georgia, especially famous for the hand shadow theater Budrugana Gagra, founded in 1991, that first appeared in Paris with the performance Four Seasons.

I am extremely happy and excited that from now on in Lithuania we have a totally new theatre genre, special by its manner of performance and the way of narration. I am glad that professor Gela Kandelaki, even at a respectable age, for two years intensely worked with the young actors from Lithuania; I am also proud of my students who faced a serious challenge which required a lot of effort, daily training, and patience. I believe that the first festival will be just the beginning of the new trend in theatre and that we shall amaze audiences not only in Lithuania, but also in the world,   shared his ideas the pedagogue of the group, a famous Lithuanian author and a film and theatre director Vytautas V. Landsbergis.

After two years of studies of the exclusive hand shadow theatre art in Georgia under prof. Gela Kandelaki, the Lithuanian actors had the premiere performance of The Four Seasons in Shota Rustaveli State Theatre in Tbilisi (director: prof. Gela Kandelaki, composer: Temuraz Bakuradze). This summer, Lithuanian audiences will be able to see this unique performance.

Source: Klaipėda University