A unique post-documentary physical theatre performance, “Twisted Stories and Knotted Destinies” combines ancient rituals and contemporary stories, reflecting on refugee experiences, migration, loss and the impact of artificial intelligence on human relationships. Acting, music, lights and movement merge into a poetic and emotional journey, inviting the audience to delve into existential questions: who controls our destiny – ourselves or something else?

The stories chosen are our own personal stories and those of our friends – each highlighting different choices made during the turbulent moments of the war in Ukraine. Some stories are about struggle, others, about becoming refugees, and the grief, and still others about optimism in the face of a devastated country.

The ropes used in the performance become a metaphor for connection with people, as well as a space and a symbol of emotional landscape. Using body movement, we examine relationships that bind us in a knot, loss, or a physical distance – who unties the knots and who breaks them. The ropes present various meanings – one moment it can turn into the gentle hand of a loved one, or remind us of childhood games in the yard, the next – into a ball of thread telling about the peculiarities and rituals of a women’s community, or a painful life lesson in a moment of loss.

It is like a bridge connecting the past, present and future, with reality and dream. It is like a pulsating, fragile boundary between life and death…

The creative collective consists of theater professionals and amateurs from Lithuania and Ukraine, who are looking for ways to give a voice to Ukrainian artists who fled the war in Ukraine and now reside in Lithuania.

Director: Maria Koreneva

Actors: Jone Sestakauskaite, Marie Bondarenko, Mariia Dormidontova, Maria Koreneva, Olena Gavrylenko, Yuliia Blohka, Yevhenii Borodin.

Sound engineer: Ilaria Yermak

Lights engineer: Viktorija Žilinskaitė

Duration: approx. 50 min.

Language: English, Lithuania and Ukrainian.