Production: Lithuanian Radio and Television KLASIKA, Theatre Information Centre/Sirenos festival
Author: Vaiva Grainytė
Producers: Vakarė Leonavičė (LRT), Kristė Savė (TIC)
Directors: Arturas Bumšteinas, Vaiva Grainytė
Sound engineer: Arturas Bumšteinas
Other key staff Voices: Julia Karelina, Ieva Labanauskaitė, Augustina Gruzdytė, Jonė Miškinytė, Ugnė Makselytė, Diemantė, Merkevičiūtė, Gabrielė Griciūtė, Elena Laurinavičiūtė, Monika Staugaitytė, Justina Mykolaitytė, Urtė Laukaitytė, Armanda Rudelytė, Austėja Masliukaitė, Gertrūda Breivytė, Aleksandra Bondarev, Magdalena Kozlovskaja, Greta Grinevičiūtė, Agata Orlovska, Ieva Rižė, Kamilė Krasauskaitė, Aurelija Bulaukaitė, Liepa Sofija Vareikaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, Agnė Semenovičiūtė, Elmyra Ragimova, LRT childrens‘ choir.
Sounds: Gailė Griciūtė (physharmonica), Algirdas Biveinis (organ), Kristupas Gikas (flute), Diemantė Merkevičiūtė (violin), Ignas Juzokas (drum machine), and the contemporary music ensemble Synaesthesis
Synopsis:
Radio pay Twenty Four is a recitative poem for voices and two choruses. Vaiva Grainytė‘s play interlaces the vocal solos with dense choral textures, creating an atmosphere of mystical rites. The heroine‘s inner journey unfolding in the play is an invitation to plunge into dreamlike geological depths, down the unsettling wells of memory and fear. Facing and overcoming them transforms the heroine, as she encounters previous unacknowledged and abandoned parts of herself. The number Twenty Four symbolizes an alchemical union, fulfilment, completeness, and acceptance. The radio play offers a contemporary poetic version of the archetypal hero‘s journey – a piece of radio art, a Jungian liturgy vocalizing tectonic layers of the unconscious.
One of the twenty four bee families dies. From a ring once worn by She 1’s grandmother and mother, a tiger’s eye takes flight. She 1 begins her journey.
She 1 finds herself in her childhood room – transformed, unfamiliar, and swarming with wasps. Despite the horror, She 1 discovers the gate. Passing through it, She 1 enters a well of water, fire, air, and earth. As she descends, She 1 must retrieve her heart, seized and held in captivity by different elements.
She 1 is aided by animals able to overcome each element: a camel, a rooster, a snake, and a wild boar. Having passed the challenges, she reaches the bottom of the well, where she finds She 2 imprisoned inside an egg. The egg shatters, and the two meet. Yet She 1 senses that this is not the final destination of her journey. A conflict between her mind and heart unfolds.
She 1 recounts her past and the troubles she endured. She II shares the story and the reasons for her imprisonment in the egg. After hearing one another, She 1’s doubts dissolve. She recognizes their meeting is not accidental: together, they will restore the Twenty four.
