THE MEET(ing) (2018)

THE MEET(ing) is a ritual, inviting the audience to participate instead observing. It’s an invitation to tickle someone to death, to rock a doll like a woman, sink ships by barely glancing at them, heal others with pure spring water, let one’s hair down and let the devil loose. It’s about spotting three crucial flaws of horrid women: disbelief, self-love and an insane attraction to bodily pleasures.

It’s about finding a witch.

Seeing and seeing it through to the very end.

A SECT (latin “secta” – “school, teaching”, “sequor” – “follow”) – is a controversial term referring to a certain type of religious organizations and groups.

The dramaturgy of the show is based on three sources: first is the analysis of sexual identities and stereotypes as manifestations of the feminine and the masculine in the contemporary society. The second source is the archive of historical witch trials in Lithuania, which so far have received little public attention and yet serve as a material echoing and amplifying today’s reality. Thirdly, the performance delves into the modus operandi of a sect, revealing manipulations of power, faith and brainwashing.

People who have found themselves in extreme situations and liminal experiences give us, the creators of the show, a chance to reflect on the human history and the possibility of it repeating as well as on our innate wish to be part of a community and what consequences it may bear. In the performance, we speak of sex/ gender and balancing on the thin line between the importance and ambivalence of one’s sex. The show may be critical of the current social trends but perhaps it is based only on our artistic wish to satisfy our curiosity in order to reveal what we consider the most burning issues of social relations today. Viewers of the show can become participants of THE SECT we have started, and thus they can take part in all the pleasurable activities The MEETing) presents in front of them.