Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce “The One Who Saw in the Dark” (Rež. Rolandas Atkočiūnas)

“The One Who Saw in the Dark”

Premiere – 10, 11 October 2026

Performed in Lithuanian

The production is based on The Boy Who Could See in the Dark (Latvian: Puika, kurš redzēja tumsā), a book by Latvian writer and playwright of Lithuanian descent Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce.

It is the story of Jacob – first a boy, then a young man, and eventually an adult – whose parents are blind. It is the story of a person trying to understand the world so that others can live in it. Jacob’s mother, Zelma, and his father, Lionginas, are blind. Other visually impaired people live in the same dormitory. From a very young age, the boy becomes the eyes of his blind parents. Blindness here is neither an illness nor, still less, a tragedy, it is an existential condition.

Jacob faces responsibility and the burdens of everyday life from an early age. He is different everywhere: both in the sighted world and among the blind. Yet he knows how to love. He grows and matures, living through contradictions as well as the ordinary joys of everyday life.

The production does not ask what it means to be blind. Instead, it asks – what does it mean to see? Is sight a gift or a burden? How does a person grow up when, from the very beginning, they are expected to be an adult? What marks are left by an intimate bond that is both love and dependence?

Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce’s writing is rooted in the observation of social reality and a documentary sensibility. At the heart of her plays is the human voice – authentic, living speech that captures what people tend to leave unsaid or, at best, only half-say.

The story and characters of The One Who Saw in the Dark have real-life counterparts. The production comes close to documentary theatre and draws strongly on its principles.

“Darkness in this play is not something negative. Jacob could see in the dark – he could see what others could not. Love and burden can exist within the same person, side by side. Theatre is there to help us understand that – it has the power to do so.” (Rolandas Atkočiūnas)

“This story is not about seeing or not seeing, but about what can be perceived without the eyes. About what matters most.” (Bārbala Simsone)

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Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce – a Latvian playwright and prose writer of Lithuanian descent, as well as a screenwriter for film and television. She received the International Jānis Baltvilks Prize in 2020. The Boy Who Could See in the Dark (2019) is her second book. It was included in the 2020 White Ravens international catalogue and shortlisted for the 2021 European Union Prize for Literature. The stage adaptation at the Latvian National Theatre, directed by Valters Sīlis, was named the best production of the 2019–2020 season.

Rolandas Atkočiūnas – a theatre director. In 1992, he founded the Kaunas Small Theatre, where he served as artistic director for two years. From 1994, he worked at the Šiauliai Drama Theatre as a director, artistic director and theatre director. From 2005 to 2008, he worked at the Liepāja Theatre in Latvia as a director and artistic director. In 2011–2012, he served as artistic director of the Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre. Atkočiūnas is particularly drawn to existential, metaphysical and intimate theatre. His work explores contemporary drama and twentieth-century modernist dramaturgy, with a particular interest in urgent issues facing contemporary society. His most recent productions include Tom Stoppard’s Heroes at Estonia’s Südalinna Theatre (2025) and Daiva Čepauskaitė’s When We Are Young Again at the Latvian National Theatre (2026). At the Vilnius Old Theatre, Atkočiūnas has directed Zoyka’s Apartment (2014) and The Legend of the Great Combinator (2017).

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JACOB

I was the eyes of the dormitory, and as a child I did things that some people might find strange.

I feel like you haven’t seen me in a very long time.

ZELMA (mother)

Jacob is my sturdy chair...

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 Director  –  Rolandas Atkočiūnas

Stage Designer  – Artūras Šimonis

Costume Designer  – Kotryna Daujotaitė

Translated into Lithuanian and adapted by  – Rolandas Atkočiūnas

Stage Director’s Assistant  – Eglė Kuzienė

Production Manager – Aleksandra Šalkinė

 Cast :

Gabrielė Andruškevič, Ilona Doveiko, Vidmantas Fijalkauskas, Jelena Juščenko, Viačeslav Lukjanov, Artur Svorobovič, Gintarė Šmigelskytė, Juliana Volodko