Guests | Oh My God!

ANAT GOV’S “OH MY GOD!” Psychologist Ela breaks her own rules and sees a client after work after he warns that something irreversible will happen unless he gets urgent psychological help. The visitor introduces himself as …God. — Ha ha ha! What could have happened that even God needs help?! It turns out Ela has just 40 minutes to save the world. A light, witty yet intellectual and prophetic dialogue between Creator and Creation, on which EVERYTHING depends!

LAUGHTER AND CATHARSIS (TEARS) FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

“At first glance, Anat Gov’s play ‘Oh My God’ seems like a fairly simple comedy, surprising us from the first pages with its fantastical premise: God asks for help from Ela, a psychotherapist for children (!), or something irreversible will happen (as it turns out, an ‘improved flood’, ‘the end for everyone, even the chosen ones’). Ela has just one session to save the world, part of which is ‘eaten up’ by her disbelief that her client is God. For most of the play, we watch a sparkling, funny stand-up routine on familiar biblical themes, with brilliantly constructed dialogue and jokes. The comedy’s basic aim—to surprise and make the audience laugh—is achieved. But the comedy’s familiarity unexpectedly cracks open, like a lightning strike, when the play’s second layer is revealed: the drama of characters who are generally thought to be the least psychologically vulnerable (Ela is a psychotherapist, and God is, after all, omnipotent). The playwright set herself an exceptionally difficult and risky task: to make the audience laugh and bring them to catharsis in a single performance (let us recall that catharsis, an essential element of tragedy, is by no means required in comedy). So, paradoxically, Anat Gov’s comedy also brings tears. And one more paradox: the Israeli playwright did something quite un-Jewish—she gave us two for the price of one. Don’t miss it!” — Mindaugas Valiukas, poet, playwright and translator of the play

“I’ve always wondered what God looks like. Now I know what he looks like and how he feels… I have that privilege. It’s very interesting.” — Actor Vaidotas Martinaitis

“What would you ask if you had the chance to meet God face to face? My character, Ela, confidently says, ‘I don’t believe in God! Look around—do you think there’s a God?!’ Raising her autistic son alone and working as a psychologist, she has had ample reason in her life to be horrified and disappointed. But this meeting will be decisive. And it is unclear which of them will help the other undergo a healing transformation.” — Actress Valda Bičkutė

“I’ve always been interested in playing ‘different’ people, those whom most of society shuns or finds unacceptable. I’m interested in how such people think, what they think about, how they accept life and how they enjoy it. And they really do enjoy it—perhaps even more often than those so-called ‘healthy’ people. When I first read the play, it made me laugh a lot; it’s a lively and absorbing story. I’m glad this story came into the hands of director Gabrielė Tuminaitė. I believe the performance will not only make audiences smile, but also invite them to reflect by touching on issues relevant today.” — Actor Tomas Šečkus