After a year-and-a-half away from the stage, Lithuanian theatre teacher and artist Egle Simkeviciute Kulvelis decided it was time to get back to her beloved craft. Kulvelis began taking an interest in theatre after high school and chose it as her major in university. After graduation, she moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where she taught children and teenagers at a drama academy.
Rehearsals for The Never Ending Loneliness for Two.
Kulvelis relocated to Thailand a year-and-a-half ago and picked the unusual play by respected Lithuanian writer Sigitas Perulskis, The Never Ending Loneliness For Two, with an English translation by Aivaras Mockus, for her Bangkok directorial debut.
The young theatre artist teams up with British performer James Laver and Thai actress and director Pattarasuda Anuman Rajadhon to try to solve the many riddles of romance of this play. Here, Kulvelis discusses the play, her unusual approach to rehearsals, and being among unexpected viewers.
What drew you to this play?
I read it a few years ago and again a year ago and I couldn’t forget it because the subjects — relationships, difficulties in relationships, and how people deal with these difficulties — interested me. It’s not easy to read. The language ranges from very sarcastic and funny to very delicate, so it raises a lot of questions and makes you want to figure out what the playwright wants to convey.
Are you familiar with the writer’s other works?
Egle Simkeviciute Kulvelis.
I’ve read his novel. It is very edgy, very tough to read. I like his style — his sarcasm. I like his male attitude. I like the balance between reality and fantasy, between sarcasm and sensitivity. I don’t know how many times I’ve read the play, but I always find something new — the same with the actors. In every rehearsal we find new ideas and meanings.
The way the play is written is open to interpretation. Why did you decide to stage it in the environmental-theatre (site-specific) style?
From the very beginning, I wanted to rehearse in public to see how it feels to be among other people and how it affects the performance. So, naturally, we decided to present it in an open manner as well, to get rid of the line between the audience and the actors, and we were eager to try a few locations. That’s why we will perform at The Hop dance studio the first weekend and at Toot Yung Art Center the second weekend. Each space will influence the performance differently and we are curious to see how we will adapt to these locations.
Tell us about your rehearsals.
Our main rehearsal space was Toot Yung Art Center. We were rehearsing inside the gallery and sometimes in their outdoor coffee shop. So we always had gallery visitors as an audience. To improve our understanding of the characters, we rehearsed on the train (the setting of one of the stories) and also performed extracts for the passengers who were not informed in advance. These few times helped us find even more colour for our performance, for example, the humorous element that we didn’t realise was there. We got lots of applause and inspiring feedback and are now looking forward to presenting our full performance.
- The Never Ending Loneliness For Two will be performed in English with no subtitles at The Hop (between Silom Soi 18 and 20) this Friday at 8pm, and on Saturday and Sunday at 6pm; and at Toot Yung Art Center (Ekamai Soi 2) from June 27-29, at 8pm.
- Tickets are 400 baht, including one drink at the entrance. Call 08-8963-6260 or email madamegle@yahoo.com.
