WOMAN WITH A STONE IN HER MOUTH

This is an interdisciplinary performance, a monologue in which crimes committed against women in Lithuania in the 19th–21st centuries are analyzed using visual means and based on historical facts, documents, and testimonies. The story of witch burial traditions served as a source of inspiration. Allegedly, witches had their hands and heads cut off, which were placed on a footstool, and a stone was stuffed into their mouths so that they would not curse their executioners and reveal their visions.

Today, performance director and performer Greta Gudelytė invites us to publicly and unanimously acknowledge that the centuries of repression against women were not just "a period of time" that is not worth remembering because "it is no longer happening." – it was systematic historical crimes that are important to name, remember, and acknowledge.

"The witch and the stone are symbols of all the women silenced throughout the ages, about whom and for whom it is necessary to speak, because mistakes that are remembered and acknowledged are repeated less often than those that we have denied or forgotten. The problem of violence against women in Lithuania is still unresolved, so we ask the question: how many centuries, millennia will it take for water to wear away the stone drop by drop and for the imprisoned souls to speak?" – author G. Gudelytė comments on the idea behind the work.

About the creative team:
The creative team behind Woman with a Stone in Her Mouth consists of four independent artists. The performance's dramaturgy was developed by writer, director, and actress Greta Gudelytė, who analyzed information found in historical books, articles, folklore, and museum archives. During the process, the creative team met with women, listened to their experiences, and invited them to have their portraits taken. The portraits were captured by photographer, artist, and human rights activist Aušra Volungė Griškonytė. The photos, as documentary artifacts, as women's signatures expressing solidarity with the issue, are visible to viewers during the performance. Apeirono Theater director and artist Eglė Kazickaitė created the visual solutions, while composer Toma Čepaitė transformed the unspoken emotions into multi-layered sounds that accompany the audience throughout the performance.

Apeirono Theatre is a professional theatre founded in 2012 on the initiative of directors Eglė Kazickaitė and Greta Gudelytė. Apeirono Theatre avoids unambiguity, consistency of time and action, multiple contexts, connections with philosophical concepts and poetry, but always gives priority to thought. The audience also plays a very important role – at Apeiron Theatre, the audience is seen as a co-author of the performance, unafraid to see, interpret, and understand the performance in their own way.