NO RETURN

Viirus is a small Swedish speaking theatre situated close to the heart of Helsinki. Viirus was founded in 1987 by three young actors, Robert Enckell, Mats Långbacka and Johan Storgård together with Arn-Henrik Blomvist, a director fresh out of University. They wanted Viirus to be an alternative to the institutional theater with focus on a young audience. The repertoire represented the New, the Different. Over the years Viirus has developed into an acclaimed and well known theater but it still has the ability to provoke and surprise its audience. The show No Return marks the first cooperation between Theatre Viirus and the director Cezaris Graužinis, one of the number of outstanding Lithuanian directors that contribute to the vitality of the myth about the “Lithuanian theatre miracle”. Born in 1967, Cezaris completed his studies of directing in Moscow and specialised in Japan with the famous director Tadashi Suzuki. His directing career is mainly related with Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania where he teaches acting and directing at the Vilinus Academy. Since 2003. Cezaris has been running his own theatre named The Cezaris Group.

No Return is an adaptation of two stories by Franz Kafka: the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma (last chapter in the novel Amerika) and short story A Fratricide. The Nature Theatre of Oklahoma is the largest theatre in the world and it is looking for new employees. The first part of No Return is the story of the people seeking employment and their journey to the theatre. In the second part the actors of the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma are trying to reconstruct A Fratricide, the best play ever performed at their theatre. This is a story for dreamers, for those who like to pretend that roads stretch into infinity after disappearing beyond the horizon. However, there is a danger in this limitlessness – just as there are endless horizons, there are also endless chasms – but for the most part there is hope, a never-ending hope...

Viirus's No Return is a splendid actor's performance, which trusts in the ability of the spectator to imagine. Perform for your life! In the last chapter of Franz Kafka's Amerika, the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, the largest in the world, appears dimly as the objective. All are invited – to the stage of death. Viirus's No Return exploits all aspects of the theatre of death, but the colors are not black, nor does the music follow the score of a funerary procession. The Lithuanian composer Martynas Bialobzeskis has created a musical world to the show which revels in light and joy! What an ecstatic happiness the train passengers radiate, as they travel through the pink side-scene. After all, they do not know their terminus, as we in the stand do. The performers bring to mind the dramatic troupes of the concentration camps and Stalin’s prison camps. As long as you perform you survive. And they just continue, continue…
Kirsikka Moring, Helsingin Sanomat

Cezaris has… created a glimmering piece of art. No return is a magic comedy, which moves in the borderland between reality, fairytale and sleep. It’s a strong performance in its sensitivity and gentleness and it takes advantage of the elated ways of the theatre.
Eeva Kemppi, Turun Sanomat