PAPER SWANS to be Presented at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

A security guard on patrol in a closed park at night meets a young woman in a ballet dress making paper swans, locking them in a loop of repeated encounters.

In a closed park at night, a security guard on his patrol finds a young woman dressed in a ballet dress sitting on the bench making paper swans. As he tries to find out what she is doing and why, he locks them in a continuous never-ending loop; trapped as they encounter each other over and over again.

However, each time they meet, there is a slight change in the situation and things progress, albeit at their own, fragmented pace.

Influenced by Theatre of the Absurd, this play is a Rorschach test for audiences, where the meaning behind the cycle in which its characters are trapped remains always diffuse or just out of reach.

And yet, through skilful physicality, the actors explore the unconscious meaning behind their situation, allowing the audience to draw personal conclusions, each relating the symbolism to their own life in equally valid, but disparate ways.

Writer Vyte Garriga is delicately informed by her own experiences of being born in the Soviet Union, her understanding of violence, and the "ridiculousness of oppression", and although these concepts never surface directly, they remain atmospherically inferred.

Drawing on absurdist theatre, visual symbolism and Vyte's personal experience, as a woman from a post-Soviet country (Lithuania) coming to the UK, this show insists on play and creativity as a vehicle for freedom, and invites audiences to laugh, rebel, and luxuriate in self-understanding.

Paper Swans is strikingly funny, with a dark humour and a twisted physicality. It features an original score by renowned English folk musician Nick Hart, which draws on traditional Lithuanian music.

Vyte Garriga is a London-based actress, writer and physical theatre performer from Lithuania. She trained at RADA MA Theatre Lab and specialises in physical and devised theatre. She has toured the UK and Europe with Flabbergast Theatre's acclaimed productions of 'Macbeth', 'Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Romeo and Juliet'. As a writer, Vyte is interested in myths, Surrealism, dream logic, experimenting with storytelling forms. Her play '2nd Portrait of Dorian G', commissioned by Bloomsbury Festival and Macready Theatre, was nominated for an Offie 2023.

Actor Daniel Chrisostomou trained in repertory theatre at the Fourth Monkey Theatre Company (2011-14). He has toured throughout the UK, Europe and Asia and his first UK tour as Joseph Merrick in the 'Elephant Man' (Fourth Monkey) was Offie nominated for Best Performer. Daniel also has ten years of martial arts training, which informs his work as a dancer and physical performer. He has worked with numerous companies and is an associate member of Flabbergast Theatre and Shapes in Motion, led by Sarah Perry.

Paper Swans will be performed at 11.05am in the Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs) from the 31st July - 25th August (Not 14th).

Booking Link: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/paper-swans

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