Teaser of the play "The World Tree" | The Old Theatre of Vilnius

The World Tree
Sensory-friendly, interactive performance for babies aged 6-18 months
Premiered on: 26-27 April 2024
Running time: 40 min
Friendly performance - suitable for children with sensory issues
Without dialogue - suitable for speakers of any language
Creative team:
Conceptualisation, Direction and Choreography by: Birutė Banevičiūtė
Set and Costume Design by: Medilė Šiaulytytė
Score by: Augustinas Ališauskas
Assistant Choreographer: Giedrė Subotinaitė
Stage Manager: Gelena Ivaškevič
Cast:
Edita Gončarova, Jelena Ragimova, Božena Aleksandrovič, Maksim Tuchvatulin, Aleksandr Kanajev, Telman Ragimov
The World Tree, directed by the choreographer Birutė Banevičiūtė, is a sensory-friendly performance for babies. It gives them the freedom to explore movements, body language and objects on stage together with the actors. Colour and shape-changing costumes along with details of the set encourage babies to move and experience the joy of discovery. And for adults, it’s a unique opportunity to see their little ones in a completely different, artistic environment that awakens children’s imagination and stimulates creativity. The performance is wordless, so movements here are a universal language.
The dramaturgy in The World Tree is based on joint actions of the actors and little spectators. The production is inspired by the concept of the world tree found in the mythology of many nations. In this archetype, the roots represent the past and the underworld, the trunk symbolises the present and earthly existence, and the branches signify the future and the heavens. In Lithuanian folklore, snakes dwell at the bottom of the tree, people and bees live near the trunk, and birds inhabit the branches. On stage, the actors creatively transform abstract objects of various shapes and textures into mythological attributes of the world tree. The children are given enough space to interpret the suggested ideas on their own.