Duck, Death and the Tulip

Death is always nearby, just in case. But it is not she who brings misfortune—it is life... And, as it happens, life also brings good things: friendship, conversations, games and the warmth that accompanies them. It is a little strange, but by getting to know death, we also get to know life, and vice versa. So talking about such things is a much better choice than hiding or running off to who knows where. The puppet theatre production “Duck, Death and the Tulip” seeks to reveal the importance of these conversations and introduce children to the end of life as a natural cycle of nature, and as a necessary counterbalance to life.

The author of the book “Duck, Death and the Tulip”, published in 2007, is the renowned German writer and illustrator Wolf Erlbruch. In 2006, he received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, and in 2016 he won the most important international award for children’s literature, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. “Duck, Death and the Tulip” has been translated into more than 20 languages; in 2018, thanks to translator Rūta Jonynaitė, it also became available to readers in Lithuania.

Jūratė Trimakaitė, a puppeteer who creates work in France and Lithuania, is already familiar to audiences at “Lėlė” from “Direction”, a production staged in the Main Hall for adults and young people in 2017 and nominated for the Golden Stage Cross. The same team brought together by the director for “Direction” is also creating the new production: set designer Cerice Guyon (France), composer Thomas Demay (France), and “Lėlė” actors Sigita Mikalauskaitė, Lijana Muštašvili, Asta Stankūnaitė and Deivis Sarapinas. They are joined by actresses Erika Gaidauskaitė and Elvyra Piškinaitė, and lighting designer Felix Battailon (France).

In the words of the production’s director and puppeteer, Jūratė Trimakaitė: “When we talk about death, we are usually talking about life and its value. So, in staging this production, I wanted to show death as a natural process of nature, a cycle, a change necessary for life. After all, if we didn’t complicate everything ourselves, we would find it much easier to live through certain things and have far fewer phobias... What I like most about Erlbruch’s book is that it gives no answers: when we talk about this subject, all we can really do is reflect and discuss.”