Benas Šarka

Director, actor, and performance creator, born in 1963. In 1988, he graduated in directing from the Klaipėda Faculty of the State Conservatory, where he also founded the “Gliukai” Theatre. Over more than three decades, he has created several dozen performances and plays, participated in international theatre and art festivals, and was awarded the “Padėkos kaukė” (Mask of Gratitude) in 2015 for his work. His art consciously exists on the margins of theatre—interdisciplinary performances often staged in unconventional spaces, where words lose their original meaning and are replaced by objects, natural elements, and fire. Everyday objects on his stage become metaphors, while his works embody a distinctive “aesthetics of ugliness” that blends poetry, improvisation, and ritual.