Premiere: Comedy “Dramma Italiano: Shall We Not Make a Tragedy 2”

Attention! Premiere! A new comedy, “Shall We Not Make a Tragedy 2. Dramma Italiano.” Starring Giedrius Savickas, Mantas Stonkus, Gelminė Glemžaitė, Milda Noreikaitė, and Kęstutis Cicėnas/Petras Kuneika. Directed by Antanas Obcarskas.

In this new comedy, well-known actors not only make the audience laugh until they cry, but also speak about subjects that touch us all and are especially relevant today. The audience laughs at the absurdity on stage because the same kind of absurdity is happening in real life. The play is set in Italy, but the problems faced by its characters are remarkably relevant here, too, and can even be said to mirror present-day Lithuania. Raids, theft, corruption, and absurd attempts to get away with it are the news that bombards us from our screens every day. The characters in the play experience exactly the same things on stage and speak openly about them. How can you remain an honest citizen with high moral standards when theft and deceit in government become everyday occurrences? And then there is the constantly rising cost of living: increasing food and fuel prices, rising taxes, and salaries that cannot keep up. Many ordinary families face the same pressures in everyday life in Lithuania. They also set the story of the play in motion.

The new comedy is not likely to be any less popular than its predecessor, “Shall We Not Make a Tragedy.” Like the first, it boasts a stellar cast and impressive, detailed stage sets that look more like a film set. People often ask whether those who have not seen the first “Shall We Not Make a Tragedy” can go straight to the new comedy. The answer is yes—absolutely. The second part tells a completely different story. The two are connected by the same fantastic quartet of actors.

Giedrius Savickas and Milda Noreikaitė once again play a couple. This time they are Giovanni and Antonia, an emotional married couple whose relationship is a mystery—who has whom under their thumb? Married in life, married on stage again. Mantas Stonkus and Gelminė Glemžaitė play Luigi and Margarita. They love each other, but do not necessarily understand each other well. Add a somewhat naive policeman (Kęstutis Cicėnas/Petras Kuneika) to this explosive quartet and you have a volatile mix that needs only a small spark. The spark comes one ordinary day at a local shopping centre. What happened there that turned everything upside down? Let’s leave that a mystery. We can only say that the incident set off a kind of butterfly effect: an incredible, even absurd, chain of events that entangles all five characters in the comedy. Once someone tells a lie, the mill of made-up stories draws everyone in. Their attempts to get out of it are utterly hilarious, sink the characters even deeper, and give the policeman an even bigger headache.