Paper Swans will be performed at 11.05am in the Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs) from the 31st July – 25th August (Not 14th)
Booking Link: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/paper-swans
Paper Swans is a new theatre show hitting the Edinburgh Fringe this August that explores the relationship between two strangers – a ballerina making paper swans in a closed park, and the security guard patrolling the area. Locked in a never-ending loop of having to encounter each other again and again, this play draws on absurdist theatre, symbolism and the playwright Vyte Garriga’s personal experiences as a women from post-Soviet Lithuania coming to the UK.
Here, Vyte tells us how the play is open to interpretation, her writing process and the evolution of the musical element in Paper Swans.
What inspired the ‘repeated encounters’ theme of Paper Swans?
I’m a big fan of Beckett and the Theatre of the Absurd, so I was interested to see what happens if the girl and the guard have to keep meeting each other again and again and how their relationship will or will not change. Also, when or whether either of them will realise that they are locked in a loop.
You could read it as a lesson that hasn’t been learned, karma or simply a dream- I’d like to leave it open.
Who are your favourite performers in the world of absurdist theatre?
Kathryn Hunter and the late Marcello Magni- whenever you watch them, they are simply mesmerising and able to communicate anything and it will make sense.
Can you talk us through your writing process a little bit?
My ideas normally come as images that I write down and play around with. I am a big fan of a Surrealist technique of automatic writing, so I allow myself to put on paper anything that comes to my mind- no editing. I find it to be the best way for me to get out of the writer’s block and simply write as there is no pressure to be “good”, to make sense, to articulate my thoughts. It’s there to help me get as much information on the paper as possible, which then I can start shaping into something more coherent.
Also, when I feel stuck (or bored, or going round in circles) I really enjoy surprising myself by dropping something completely out of the blue and exploring where it takes me, seeing what it might unlock.
How do audience reactions to your performance differ around the globe?
This is the premiere of the show, so it would be difficult to compare it to anywhere else but the UK. Yet, our WIP at Camden People’s Theatre in London and at Macready Theatre in Rugby were extremely well received. We hope that bringing Paper Swans to the Fringe would open up the doors for this show to tour the globe.
How important is it to have an original musical score in your work?
Extremely- but it was a pure accident that we ended up having music in it at all as I haven’t written it into the script. However, a friend of mine – Olivier van den Hende- learned that we were doing a WIP show and offered to help. Being able to work with live cello and respond to music became an inseparable part of the show.
And then we asked the renowned English Folk musician Nick Hart to compose an original score inspired by Lithuanian folk music, which we are bringing in with us to the festival.
Music is the third character in Paper Swans and I could not imagine the play without it.
Paper Swans will be performed at 11.05am in the Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs) from the 31st July – 25th August (Not 14th)
Booking Link: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/paper-swans