The Rabbits’ Rebellion

Director and set designer Rimas Driežis conceived a staging of Kazys Binkis’s children’s poem “The Rabbits’ Rebellion” in the spirit of the traditional English Punch and Judy puppet show. The result is a performance in which rebellious rabbits march into interwar Kaunas, break into the Kaunas theatre, and demand that opera star Kipras Petrauskas stop hunting rabbits. This patriotic patchwork, drawn from poems and verse by Kazys Binkis (1893–1942), poet, playwright and classic of Lithuanian literature, is virtuously performed by one actor, Lijana Muštašvili, with an array of glove puppets. Children enjoy watching the rabbits’ battles, while parents can immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the temporary capital, tinged with nostalgia and irony.