Disturbance

A performance “Disturbance” is about what happens when a person begins to be guided by his sensitivity and intuition in a world where everything has its own rules, clear expectations and principles of existence? 

The question is raised by one of the brightest and most interesting theatre directors of the young generation, Justinas Vinciūnas, who in 2025 was awarded the “Golden Stage Cross” as the best rising artist. His creative biography already includes even two performances based on the works of Nobel Prize winners in Literature, as well as an award-winning performance based on African dramaturgy and a work based on a journalistic chronicle.

The creative process of the performance took place while researching the biography of one of the most prominent voices in Danish literature—Tove Ditlevsen and the motifs of her novel “The Faces” (1968). These elements became the starting point for the creative process and dictated the dramaturgical axis of the performance.

At the centre of the performance is Lise Mundus, an actress who exhausted by the reality surrounding her. Feeling that the world around her is beginning to wobble and its concreteness is on the edge of absurdity, Lise begins to look for a crack—a space where the tension of “being something” is replaced by the longed-for peace for self-sufficiency without the constant evaluation or pressure by someone else’s consciousness. However, every step towards freedom has a price. And most often this price is the person next to her.

In this performance, the characters of the novel gain sovereignty – they become unsubdued by the framework of the plot of “The Faces”, finding themselves in various situations or sharing thoughts that are seemingly kept silent in the novel. Therefore, the creation of the performance is based on a game in which the character goes beyond the limits of his own words. Also, the autobiographical nature of the novel erases the boundary between the author and the character she creates. This aspect has become a cornerstone in this performance as well, when the boundary between the character and the performer becomes clearly undefined. These laws invite us to create a strange theatrical language, modeled almost on everyday situations, which seems to invite us to see through the longing for freedom hidden beneath the obvious reality.

“Disturbance” invites the audience to a discussion: what is the price of loyalty to the laws of personal truth? Is trust in one’s own sensitivity a creative or destructive force? And finally, isn’t what seems to us like an obstacle in ourselves an opportunity to rekindle a passion for life that was lost somewhere along the way?

Director Justinas Vinciūnas is the winner of the annual contest DramaTest Residency, organized by the State Small Theatre of Vilnius, for this contest he presented a directorial vision for the stage version of the novel "The Faces" by T. Ditlevsen.

Originally published by Gyldendal, produced in coorporation with Gyldendal Group Agency.

Additional information:

(Ages 16+): the performance deals with suicidal themes.

Actively flashing lights are used during the performance.