According to the director E. Švedkauskaitė, “Memoirs of a Young Man” is a performance about memory. About a short, tragically ended life of a young person, drowned in expectations and visions. It’s a trip from the other side – from one’s own memory to living memory.
Leonas Ciparis is a person who needed a community, common faith, and common goals. He always wished to talk about it, to argue, but has finally spoken only after his death. His friend and teacher Tomas Kelertas, a man who had no need for a community and who was sufficient for himself, became his listener. In the play, not only a gloomy period of stagnation, the smog of the Soviet government, but also mystical figures of authority, capable of destroying destinies with the snap of a finger, are hanging over the two of them. The creators of this performance are interested in how the memoirs of the past operate today, and what traces of it we can recognize in our time, in our identity, – says E. Švedkauskaitė. In 2023 E. Švedkauskaitė was awarded the Golden Stage Cross prize for the best directors work for the performance “Memoirs of a Young Man”. M. Nastaravičius was awarded the prize for best dramaturgy of the year.