Lithuanian National Drama Theatre
Lithuania's national drama company on Gedimino Avenue, known for its Feast of the Muses sculpture.
The company traces its origins to 1940, when a state drama theatre was established in Vilnius, and it has occupied the building on Gedimino Avenue since 1951. A thorough rebuilding completed in 1981 to designs by the brothers Algimantas and Vytautas Nasvytis gave the theatre its present dark, recessed frontage. Above the entrance stands the Feast of the Muses, a bronze group of three figures by the sculptor Stanislovas Kuzma, which has become one of the most recognisable pieces of public sculpture in the Lithuanian capital.
A second major reconstruction begun in 2018 renewed the Great Hall and the front-of-house areas and added a New Hall and a Small Hall, giving the theatre three auditoriums of different scales. The repertoire mixes staged classics and prose adaptations with international contemporary drama and new Lithuanian writing, and directors associated with the house have included Rimas Tuminas, Oskaras Korsunovas and Yana Ross. Many productions carry surtitles, and the theatre also tours and hosts guest companies.
Highlights
- Feast of the Muses bronze group by Stanislovas Kuzma above the entrance
- Three auditoriums: the Great Hall, the New Hall and the Small Hall
- Repertoire of staged classics, prose adaptations and new Lithuanian plays
- Modernist 1981 frontage by the Nasvytis brothers on Gedimino Avenue
