Comedy “Oh My God!”

Psychologist Ela breaks her own rules and sees a client after work after he warns that, without urgent psychological help, something irreversible will happen. 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-hearted, witty yet intellectual and prophetic dialogue between the Creator and the Created, on which EVERYTHING depends!

“Anat Gov’s play *Oh God* at first glance seems like a fairly simple comedy, but from the first pages it surprises with its fantastic premise: God asks Ela, a psychotherapist for children, for help, or something irreversible will happen (as it turns out, ‘an improved flood’, ‘the end for everyone, even the chosen’). 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 superbly constructed dialogue and jokes. The comedy’s basic aim—to surprise and make the audience laugh—is achieved. But the comedy’s conventionality suddenly, like a lightning strike, cracks open when the play’s second layer is revealed: the drama of characters generally thought to be the least psychologically vulnerable (Ela is a psychotherapist, while God is, after all, omnipotent). The playwright set herself an extraordinarily difficult and risky task: to make the audience laugh and move 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 acted in a thoroughly un-Jewish way—she gave us two for the price of one. Don’t miss it!” — Mindaugas Valiukas, poet, playwright and translator of the play

“What does God look 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 says with conviction, ‘I don’t believe in God! Look around—does it seem to you that God exists?!’ Raising her autistic son alone and working as a psychologist, she has had plenty of opportunities in her life to be horrified and disappointed. But this meeting will be decisive. And it’s unclear which of them will help the other undergo a healing transformation.” — Actress Valda Bičkutė

“I have 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 embrace 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 is a lively and engaging 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 addressing issues that matter today.” — Actor Tomas