The Play “The One Who Saw in the Dark” Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce
October 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Naujoji Vilnia Cultural Center
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1457439026197095
Creative Team:
Director – Rolandas Atkočiūnas
Set Designer – Artūras Šimonis
Costume Designer – Kotryna Daujotaitė
The play was translated into Lithuanian and adapted by Rolandas Atkočiūnas
Assistant Director – Eglė Kuzienė
Production Manager – Aleksandra Šalkinė
The cast of the play includes:
Jacob as an Adult – Vidmantas Fijalkauskas
Jacob in His Youth – Ilona Doveiko
Mother Zelma – Juliana Volodko
Father Lionginas – Viacheslav Lukyanov
Psychiatrist; Saleswoman – Jelena Juščenko
Song – Gintarė Šmigelskytė
Lauris – Artur Svorobovič
Lina – Gabrielė Andruškevič
This is a play based on the book *The Boy Who Saw in the Dark* (Latvian: *Puika, kurš redzēja tumsā*) by Rasa Bugavičutė-Pēce, a Latvian writer and playwright of Lithuanian descent.
This is the story of Jokūbas—a boy, a young man, and later a mature man—whose parents are blind. It is the story of a man who tries to understand the world so that others can live in it. Jacob’s mother (Zelma) and father (Lionginas) are blind. There are other blind people living in the dormitory as well. From a very young age, the boy became their eyes. Blindness is not a disease, much less a tragedy; it is an existential condition.
Jacob is faced with worries and responsibilities at an early age. He is different in every way: both in the sighted community and among the blind. Yet he knows how to love; he grows and matures, facing both conflicts and the joys of everyday life.
The play does not ask what it means to be blind. It asks: what does it mean to see? Is it a gift or a burden? How can a person grow when they have to be an adult from the very beginning? What marks does a close relationship—which is both love and dependence—leave behind?
- Bugavičute-Pēce bases her work on observations of social reality and a documentary sensibility. In her plays, the human voice is paramount—authentic, living language that captures what people tend to keep silent about, or at best, say only half-heartedly.
The story and characters of the play *The One Who Saw in the Dark* have real-life counterparts. The production is close to documentary theater—or at least comes close to it.
“Darkness in this play is not negative. Jokūbas saw in the darkness—he saw what others could not. Love and burden can coexist within a single person. To understand this—that’s what theater is for; it can do just that.” (Rolandas Atkočiūnas)
“This story is not about seeing or not seeing, but about what is perceived beyond the eyes. About what matters most.” (Bārbala Simsonė)
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Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce is a Latvian playwright, prose writer, and screenwriter for films and television series of Lithuanian descent. She is the recipient of the International Jānis Baltvilks Prize (2020). “The Boy Who Saw in the Dark” (2019) is her second book. The book was included in the 2020 international literary catalog *White Ravens* and shortlisted for the 2021 European Union Prize for Literature. The play *The Boy Who Saw in the Dark* (directed by Valters Sīlis), staged at the Latvian National Theater, was recognized as the best production of the 2019–2020 season.
Rolandas Atkočiūnas is a theater director who founded the Kaunas Small Theater in 1992 and served as its artistic director for two years. Starting in 1994, he worked at the Šiauliai Drama Theater (as a director, artistic director, and theater director). From 2005 to 2008, he worked at the Liepāja (Latvia) Drama Theater (as a director and artistic director). From 2011 to 2012, he served as artistic director of the Juozas Miltinis Drama Theater. R. Atkočiūnas is drawn to existential, metaphysical, and intimate theater; he is interested in the stage interpretation of contemporary and 20th-century modern drama, and delves into sharp themes relevant to contemporary society. His most recent productions include T. Stoppard’s *Heroes* at the Südalinna Theater in Estonia at the theater (2025) and D. Čepauskaitė’s *When We Are Young Again* at the Latvian National Theater (2026). At the Old Theater in Vilnius, he has directed the productions “Zoika’s Apartment” (2014) and “The Legend of the Great Schemer” (2017).
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JACOB
I was the life of the dorm, and as a kid I did things that might seem strange to some people.
It seems to me that you haven’t seen me in a long time.
ZELMA (Mom)
Jacob is my sturdy chair…
