Kristina Steiblytė: Sargas

What happens to a person when the familiar world loses its rules? Can a forest become a refuge for someone who has suffered abuse? Or is the forest itself a wounded being, searching for someone to hear its silence? “Sargas” invites you on a journey through a forest where reality, myths and a person’s inner experiences intertwine. Here, the forest is not merely a place of peace or refuge. It is a space marked by human activity—with clear-cut areas, scarred trees and traces of dwindling life. At the same time, it is a mysterious realm where familiar boundaries disappear and the possibility opens up of experiencing the world differently. At the heart of the performance is a girl’s journey from a world steeped in control, power and manipulation into the forest. There, two wounded beings meet: a human and nature. Their experiences begin to reflect one another, and their shared vulnerability becomes an opportunity to forge a new connection, based not on force but on sensitivity, attentiveness and empathy. Along this journey, the figure of the guardian emerges—the one who watches, bears witness, protects and remains alert between different worlds. But who is really protecting whom? Is it the human who protects the forest, or the forest the human? Can the forest save us, or must we first dare to lose our way in it if we are to understand it? Playwright Kristina Steiblytė developed this play after winning the European Residency Programme competition organised by LNDT and its partners abroad, during residencies in Madrid, Zagreb, Brussels and Marseille.