Klaipėda Youth Theatre

It is highly likely that if you ask a random passerby, “What do you know about Lewis Carroll?”, you will hear about a little girl, a perpetually late white rabbit, and a fantastic world. “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, initially titled by the author as “Alice's Adventures Underground”, is a captivating and inexhaustible work. It has been staged in numerous genres, such as musicals, contemporary operas, ballets, films, and plays. Behind these adaptations lies a myth, an author, and a story that go far beyond the mere tale of a child's dream. Oxford logic professor L. Carroll created a world where nonsense and childhood intertwine, raising the question: what remains of Lewis for Alice?

In the Klaipėda Youth Theatre production directed by Frenchman Didier Girauldon, “BEING ALICE” does not limit itself to merely depicting the classic fairy tale. The aim is to explore, together with the audience, this duality, the dialogue between the author and his work, between reality and imagination.

In the work of author Lewis Carroll, one is fascinated by his ability to reflect the dream-like nature of existence, which also recalls the famous Shakespearean phrase: “the stuff that dreams are made on”. In this work, a subtle distance is observed between words and the many meanings they can acquire, which can be attributed to them, depending on the mask. This play of words and their meanings reveals our most intimate truths, which, like reflections in a mirror, can sometimes be cruel, but are always magnificent. It is a deep questioning of our essence: “to be or not to be” in the presence of others.

“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, “Through the Looking-Glass”, “The Hunting of the Snark”, excerpts from the author's letters, as well as poetic, philosophical, and theatrical texts: these are just some of the sources being explored, where each actor becomes a narrator, character, singer, musician, and puppeteer, immersing themselves in the story and bringing it to life. Every scene, every character, every word spoken opens a door to a world of secrets and magic. In a joyful chaos, in a moving cabinet of curiosities, the performers, like artists in their workshop, will take on the challenges of Alice's dream-permeated universe and its constant metamorphoses.

Director Didier Girauldon is a theatre and opera director, actor, producer, and educator who has been involved in international projects for over two decades in France, England, the United States, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, and Canada. As a multidisciplinary artist, he explores collective creation, focusing primarily on the dynamics of movement, text, and rhythm.