"It's just a lovely thing we have a chance to do as artists: how do you create a show that can be safe, enjoyable, creative, innovative but in the specific conditions we are facing across the whole world at the moment," Baldwin said in an interview with BNS.
As the Kaunas ECC program will kick off with Uprising, a unique show of music, light, video and dance, on January 22, the director tells about decisions that had to be made, unveils some details of the upcoming opening, and also discloses what got him interested in the Kaunas ECC project.
"Everything – from the way we prepare the show to the actual production of the show and the artistic decisions we made in the show evolve very much being influenced by the pandemic," he said. "The show itself – we had to think from the very beginning how do we do this in these times, that it's both safe and secure as we make it but also safe and secure when we perform it."
One of the decisions dictated by the pandemic was to hold the opening outside, which, Baldwin says, was the right decision, having in mind the fact that preparations have taken 18 months and the requirements for mass events have considerably changed during that time.
Besides a huge stage for the show, the Zalgiris Arena will also be involved for it as its façade will feature projections and performers will be inside in separate spaces to keep distance.
The Lithuanian weather has also become a challenge. "As you know, Lithuania, the Baltic countries, have very specific winter conditions," the director said.
"There have even been fascinating conversations and searching across Northern Europe for the right boxes that have the right structure and density to resist as much as possible the weather that could be thrown at us," he said.
In his words, the show will have a goal of creating "a bit of an explosion, a bit of a revolution" in the way people see culture, and also to use the myth of the Kaunas beast for that.
"Unfortunately, we can't have just free interaction between people – we can't allow that to happen in a safe way, we couldn't find a way doing that safely. So what we've done, we've created these two-parts of the exercise: the first one is to come and watch this short but very impacting show - the event will last 35 minutes or so - and then spend the rest of the evening, it can be almost as long as you like, taking part in the city game," Baldwin said.