On January 16-20, the Arts Printing House will host an international children's and youth festival – KITOKS'23. This year, the festival greets audiences with the slogan "Inspiring connections!". This is the first and largest festival in Lithuania presenting unconventional performing arts to 0-18 year olds, which this year the festival program will feature performances not only by Lithuanian creators, but also by Norwegians, Swiss, Belgians.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM:

VIDA / LIFE | Compania Javier Arand (ES)

Characters of the story are born, they grow up, reproduce and die before our eyes, which makes VIDA a metaphor of our own lives, always moving forward, without any chance to turn back. Handmade articles have their own personality, hands become parts of a being, as leading players, as special beings that create movement, emotion and life. A drifting basket, a trip… New life emerges from any corner, from any basket; valuable, singular and unique lives. VIDA (life) is a non-verbal piece of theatre for an actor and objects, which tells us about the implacable and constant passage of time. 

January 16, 10:00 and 12:00

Duration: 55 min

Recommended age: 9-13 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Pocket Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance without words.

THE HAPPY FEW | BRONKS theatre (BE)

Nowadays, everyone seems to be a politician, academic, consumer, producer, activist, nihilist, capitalist, terrorist, racist, journalist, and idealist all at the same time! In The Happy Few, five players deploy everything around them to sculpt their own transformation into an ultimate offer. For humanity, for future generations, and for those who don’t have the luxury of choosing between the harsh reality and an Instagram fairy tale. Are they stand-up comedians? Martyrs? Snobby wannabes? Are they superhuman dance virtuosos or insane pamphleteers who want to prick your conscience until you crawl into a corner out of sheer freight? Yet does it really matter?

January 16, 18:00 / January 17, 10:00

Duration: 1 hour 30 min

Recommended age: 15-18 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Black Hall

Performance with English and Lithuanian subtitles

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance with English and Lithuanian subtitles.

ANIMALS |  MMLAB (LT)

Two classmates – Denas and Liutauras have a long-lasting bullying conflict. Love is also involved here – both of them like the same classmate. Everything takes a more complicated turn when during one party, while defending a friend, Denas calls Liutauras a bastard, thus insulting his father, a school teacher.

In the play Gyvuliai, written by Goda Simonaitytė, young people are revealed as instinctive animals, that are forced by the school to fit into “humanity” frames. However, their courage, drive, thirst to experience the independent life and desire to solve their problems, make them more sensitive and sometimes even more mature than adults.

January 17, 13:00

Duration: 1 hour 20 min

Recommended age: 14-18 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Pocket Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance with English subtitles.

THE BIG BANG | Klaipėda Puppet Theatre (LT)

Performance The big bang is a unique prehistory of the performance Planet Egg the audience will be brought back to the very beginning, when, after the Big Bang, the Universe was created. Many planets have appeared in that Universe – one of them is where the action of the performance The big bang is taking place. In this world of thriving societies, cities and cultures, we follow the life of a little robot and its dog, until one day the danger occurs – it starts to rain. How will this world of metal and various electronic devices react to water? Will water destroy it? What will happen to the robot and its dog in this climate change tragedy? At this particular moment, humanity needs to ask itself the question not only of how life came to be but also how it will end.

January 18, 10:00

Duration: 45 min

Recommended age: 6-9 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Black Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance without words.

SOAP OPERA: BUBBLE’S LOVE | Table Theatre (LT)

Imagine that now is the far future, which has no lakes, flowers or birds. Everything is just an installation. It will be presented to you by two scientists from the future. They will demonstrate where life began, explain what is forest, seasons, anthill, mycelium, spiders and whales. They will show you the sunset, the ocean and corals. You will see the reasons why everything is different now and existing only in the lab, why we don‘t have any lakes or flowers, why bees are only artificial, why Dusia is sick. And what to do, how to reclaim the nature?

Human has become so advanced that he can create anything: fancy clothing, artificial bubbles, but he cannot create life. A human has forgotten that he is a part of nature. However, once it comes to the lab, the DNA memory recorded in the cells, returns. The desire to restore it is still there. Where did we come from? The audience will have the opportunity to become Dusia, the bee, the ant and will be forced to go through the process of destroying nature.

January 18, 12:00

Duration: 50 min

Recommended age: 7-11 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Pocket Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Spectacle with Latin inserts.

HOCUS POCUS | Cie Philippe Saire (CH)

This is a performance by two artists that is based on the power of images, their magic and the sensations they evoke. Exceptional scenography allows to play and explore the magical game of appearing and disappearing bodies and accessories. Through the hardship they create to become tougher, as well as through a fantastic journey that awaits for them, two dancers form a brotherly relationship that is the central thread of the show.

January 19, 10:00 and 18:00

Duration: 45 min

Recommended age: 7-14 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Black Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance without words.

BUILDING A TENT | Project - Across Borders: Theatre for Young Audience (NO/LT)

Building a tent

as a symbol of those projects we do

together

daily

where the project in itself is to be in a close relation.

With movement, sound, objects, surroundings, mind & soul we humans usually participate in collective projects every day; by listening, initiating, negotiating, beeing… In this performance we meet two teenage boys with their mothers, deeply involved in their own building projects.  

BUILDING A TENT - the part of the project - "Across Borders: Theatre fot Young Audience".

January 19, 18:00

Duration: 45 min

Age: 14+

Location: Arts Printing House, Studio II

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance without words.

UNI | HeinCo (NO)

In UNI, we meet three men who perform a humorous, naturalistic acrobatic surprising piece. Through an unpredictable approach to sound, movement and song, they create a light, yet exciting atmosphere, where the audience is placed in a state of uncertainty that will detach them from their realities and deceive them into a kind of belonging between the audience and the performers.

The performance begins with an open naked room that slowly transforms into a detailed and concentrated environment. The approach to movement is minimalist naturalistic which creates astonishing scenarios with a sense of intuition. It is a soul-searching trio where intimate, primal and social expressions are explored with a naturalistic approach.

UNI - the part of the project - "Across Borders: Theatre fot Young Audience".

January 20, 12:00

Duration: 35 min

Recommended age: 10-14 years

Location: Arts Printing House, the Black Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance without words.

THE UNSEEN WORLD | Dansema (LT)

An engaging dance performance for blind and visually impaired 1-8 years old children will allow them to experience dance through movement, touch and music. To see the world with hands and heart. To feel the dance by breath and touch. To keep the distance by hugging and cuddling. The unseen world is full of different movements, colours and surfaces that awaken the senses of the little ones and develop their ability to notice the details, connect those details altogether and creatively respond to the ideas suggested by the dancers. The performance invites children to become active participants but, at the same time, leaves them the freedom to decide when and how they would like to join the process of the performance.

The Unseen World - the part of the project - "Across Borders: Theatre fot Young Audience".

January 20, 10:00

Duration: 45 min

Recommended age: (recommended for children with disabilities, 1-8 years old)

Location: Arts Printing House, the Pocket Hall

Tickets: https://bit.ly/KITOKS23_Bilietai

Performance without words.

Workshops, meetings and other activities are held during the festival KITOKS’23, you can find more information about them at menuspaustuve.lt

Festival tickets are required for children and their accompanying persons.