Saulius Mykolaitis (January 15, 1966 – February 18, 2006) was a Lithuanian director, actor, and singer-songwriter (

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

Life

Saulius Mykolaitis was born in

Ramygala Ramygala (, literally "quiet end") is a city in Lithuania. It is located some south from Panevėžys on the banks of the Upytė River, a tributary to the Nevėžis River. According to 2017 estimate, it had 1,440 residents. History The name "R ...

, a small town in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. His parents died while he was still studying at school. Saulius was raised by two older brothers Sigitas and Darius who bought him his first guitar when he was just seven years old. Saulius Mykolaitis started singing and creating songs at school. After graduating he entered Music Academy of Lithuania in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. Initially he studied singing, but soon moved to acting. From 1988 to 1992, Saulius Mykolaitis studied at the Music Academy of Lithuania under Professor Dalia Tamulevičiūtė and received a Bachelor's degree in Scene Art (Acting). In 1995 he decided to study for a Master's degree and in 1996 acquired qualification as theatre director. Mykolaitis committed suicide in 2006 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Theatrical career

From 1992 to 1994, Mykolaitis worked in Vilnius' National Mažasis (The Small) Theatre. From 1994 until the end of his life Saulius Mykolaitis was a member of Lithuanian National Drama Theatre and also collaborated with

Oskaras Koršunovas Oskaras Koršunovas (born 6 March 1969) is a Lithuanian theatre director. Biography Oskaras Koršunovas was born on March 6, 1969, in Vilnius, Lithuania. He began his career as a theatre director in 1994 at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and ...

Theatre. Through the years Mykolaitis created over 20 roles. The most famous were

Mercutio Mercutio ( , ) is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, ''Romeo and Juliet''. He is a close friend to Romeo and a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, Mercutio is one of the named characters in the p ...

in K. Antanėlis' musical "Love and Death in Verona" (director Eimuntas Nekrošius),

Roberto Zucco The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

Bernard-Marie Koltès Bernard-Marie Koltès (; 9 April 1948 – 15 April 1989) was a French playwright and theatre director best known for his plays ''La Nuit juste avant les Forêts'' (''The Night Just Before the Forests'', 1976), ''Sallinger'' (1977) and ''Dans la ...

' eponymous play (director

), Azzazelo in

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...

's "

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...

" (director Oskaras Koršunovas), The Painter in

Howard Barker Howard Barker (born 28 June 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter and writer of radio drama, painter, poet, and essayist writing predominantly on playwriting and the theatre. The author of an extensive body of dramatic works since the 197 ...

's "Europeans" (director Lary Zappia).

Directed plays

Mykolaitis was not only performing in other directors' plays. He directed – and received renown for – several productions himself, the most important being (in which he also played leads), "Stop Machine" and "The City". "Stop Machine" was based on Russian satirist's

Daniil Charms Daniil Ivanovich Kharms (russian: Дании́л Ива́нович Хармс; – 2 February 1942) was an early Soviet-era Russian avant-gardist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist. Early years Kharms was born as Daniil Yuvache ...

' life and short stories, a performance that combined physical and psychological theatre. "Once Petrushevsky broke his watch and asked to call Pushkin. Pushkin came, took a look at Petrushevsky's watch and put it back on the chair. "So what do you say, brother Pushkin?" – asked Petrushevsky. "Stop machine," – said Pushkin." (Anecdotes from the life of Pushkin) *

. Stop Machine (Stop Mašina). LNDT, 2000 *

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

Ivanov Ivanov, Ivanoff or Ivanow (masculine, bg, Иванов, russian: ИвановSometimes the stress is on Ива́нов in Bulgarian if it is a middle name, or in Russian as a rare variant of pronunciation), or Ivanova (feminine, bg, Иванов ...

(Ivanovas). LNDT, 2002 *

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

. Winnie The Pooh (Mikė Pūkuotukas). Keistuolių theatre, 2003 * Yevgeni Grishkovets. The City (Miestas). OKT (Theatre of Oskaras Koršunovas), 2005 *

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

. The Little Prince (Mažasis Princas). LNDT, 2006

Film and music

Aside from theatre, Mykolaitis had three supporting film

role A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, moral obligation, obligations, beliefs, and social norm, norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavi ...

s. The last one was in "Dievų miškas" ( Forest of the Gods) (2005), a feature directed by Algimantas Puipa. Saulius Mykolaitis also wrote and performed songs in the genre of

sung poetry Sung poetry is a broad and imprecise music genre widespread in European countries, such as Poland and the Baltic States, to describe songs consisting of a poem (most often a ballad) and music written specially for that text. The compositions usu ...

, playing the guitar. His first album "Nieko Nepasakyta" ("Nothing's Said") was released in autumn 2005. Posthumously his songs for children's plays were collected in an album called "Nupiešti Pasaulį" ("To Draw the World") (2006), followed by a compilation "Debesys" ("The Clouds") (2007), consisting of non-professional live recordings.

References

External links

Official site of Saulius Mykolaitis (Lithuanian)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100313031827/http://www.teatras.lt/person_item.php?strid=1031&id=1654&1099=1101 Saulius Mykolaitis page at Lithuanian National Drama Theatre site (Lithuanian)
Watch "Roberto Zucco" online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mykolaitis, Saulius 1966 births 20th-century Lithuanian male singers Suicides in Lithuania People from Ramygala Musicians from Vilnius Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni 2006 suicides