***** Five star – unmissable! MANinLONDON
In a closed park at night, Peter, a security guard (Daniel Chrisostomou) on his patrol finds Anna, a young woman (Vyte Garriga) dressed in a pristine white ballet dress sitting on a bench making paper swans. As Peter tries to find out what she is doing and importantly for him why, they are locked in a continuous loop of real and dream-like sequences; trapped as they encounter each other over and over again.
Each time they meet, there is a change in the situation and things progress at pace in this tight 60-minute show.
Influenced by Theatre of the Absurd, and through skilful physicality, which drew gasps from the audience, the actors explore the unconscious meaning behind their situation and the inherent meaninglessness of human existence and the futile search for meaning in a chaotic universe – with laughs.
Anna needs Peter’s help to make the swans so that they cover the lake by morning, Peter has never been taught how to make paper swans but manages to produce them comically.
It’s a treat to have such a show on at the Soho Theatre, a venue rich in comedy, that baffles and delights as the gripped witnesses in this intimate space are voyeurs to every situation imaginable. Not only are we watching, but so too are the unseen other guards somewhere on CCTV. This is a show about order, normalcy for the park of safety-ness and emptiness, and Anna’s need to cover the lake in paper swans, well, because why does everything have to have a reason…
There’s a lot to unpack – the numbers, the names, the poetic language, voices, repeated exaggerated gestures, intimacy and the violence. It’s a real tour-de-force.
If you are looking for something unusual to see then Paper Swans, why not?!
“Absurd, atmospheric and astonishing!” – MANinLONDON
Expect this to win at The Offies.
BOOK NOW sohotheatre.com/events/paper-swans
Writer and actor Vyte Garriga is interested in myths, Surrealism, dream logic and experimenting with storytelling forms. Informed by her own experiences as a woman from a post -Soviet country (Lithuania), her understanding of violence, and the “ridiculousness of oppression” are atmospherically inferred in this tight, two-hander production. Actor Daniel Chrisostomou trained in repertory theatre and has toured UK, Europe and Asia, 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 is an associate member of Flabbergast Theatre and Shapes in Motion.
Director: Simon Gleave
Associate Director: Henry Maynard
Set Designer: Valentina Turtur
Presented by: Flabbergast Theatre
Beautifully lit, directed and staged, the quick scene changes precisely managed, with an icy wind off the lake that subsides into a warmth of mutual understanding. Soundscapes from an original score by English folk musician Nick Hart, which draws on traditional Lithuanian music.
Paper Swans is strikingly funny, with a dark humour and a twisted physicality.
- Peter (Daniel Chrisostomou) & Anna (Vyte Garriga)
- Paper Swans at Soho Theatre London 2025 – close to the action.
- Torch wielding parkie Peter (Daniel Chrisostomou) in Paper Swans at Soho Theatre
- Paper Swans poster
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