Saulius Mykolaitis


Saulius Mykolaitis was a Lithuanian director, actor, and singer-songwriter.

Life

Saulius Mykolaitis was born in Ramygala, a small town near Panevėžys in Lithuania. Orphaned as a young child, he was raised by his two older brothers, Sigitas and Darius, who bought Saulius his first guitar when he was just seven years old.
Saulius Mykolaitis started writing his own songs while still at school, and went on to study at the Music Academy of Lithuania in Vilnius. Initially he chose singing, but soon moved to acting.
From 1988 to 1992, Saulius Mykolaitis studied under Professor Dalia Tamulevičiūtė and received a Bachelor's degree in Stage Art. In 1995 he started his Master's degree and in 1996 acquired qualification as a theatre director.

Acting

Theatre

From 1992 to 1994, Mykolaitis worked in Vilnius' National Mažasis Theatre. From 1994 until the end of his life Saulius Mykolaitis was a member of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre and frequently collaborated with Oskaras Koršunovas Theatre.
Through the years Mykolaitis created over 20 roles. The most famous were Mercutio in K. Antanėlis' musical "Love and Death in Verona", Roberto Zucco in Bernard-Marie Koltès' eponymous play, Azzazelo in Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita", The Painter in Howard Barker's "The Europeans".

Film & TV

Mykolaitis had three supporting film roles. The last one was in "Dievų miškas", a feature directed by Algimantas Puipa. Mykolaitis was however better known for playing one of the protagonists, a secret service man Tomas, in 2001 TV series "Gedimino, 11".

Directing

Saulius Mykolaitis also achieved success as a theatre director. His most important plays were "Stop Machine" and "The City". He played leads in both.
"Stop Machine" was based on Russian satirist's Daniil Charms' 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."

Music

Saulius Mykolaitis wrote music for various theatre plays for children, some of which was posthumously collected in an album called "Nupiešti Pasaulį" . Outside of theatre, Mykolaitis wrote and performed songs in the genre of sung poetry, playing the guitar. He debuted live at an acoustic music evening in 2002, and his first solo album "Nieko Nepasakyta" was released in autumn 2005.
  • "Nieko Nepasakyta"
  • "Nupiešti Pasaulį" – music for children
  • "Debesys" – non-professional live recordings and demos
  • "Balta Diena" – shorter version of "Clouds"
  • "Kelio Pradžia" – early demos
  • "Mykolaitis"

Death

Mykolaitis committed suicide in 2006 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is buried in his native Ramygala.