The Apartment for Rent

The story begins when Mouse disappears from their apartment and the residents of the apartment building put up a notice: “Apartment for Rent”… Many are interested, but it turns out that finding a tenant is not so simple. Although the apartment looks attractive, the fussy little animals keep disliking the neighbors! And there are all sorts here—a hen, a cuckoo, a cat and a squirrel. This is a story about love (and sometimes dislike) not only for someone like you, but also for a creature who seems completely different… About the possibility of accepting one another’s differences with friendly curiosity and gentleness. And about harmony and relief when peace finally comes.

Lea Goldberg (1911–1970) was a renowned poet, playwright, translator and literary critic of Jewish heritage. She spent her entire childhood and youth in Lithuania, until 1935. Her birthplace, Kaunas, left a deep mark on her work. In 1935, Lea Goldberg emigrated to Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv. The fairy tale “The Apartment for Rent” was published in 2022 by Žalias kalnas publishing house; it is the first book by the poet to be translated into Lithuanian and published there. Lea Goldberg wrote in Hebrew; the tale was translated into Lithuanian by Antanas A. Jonynas and Nathan Gitkind.

Hungarian puppeteer and director Kata Csató completed her puppetry studies at the Academy in Białystok, Poland. She has worked successfully in various countries around the world, including Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Poland and Lithuania. In her words: “Nowadays, when there are so many complex conflicts in the world and, on top of that, a terrible war in our neighborhood, it is certainly worth reconsidering what it means to live together. And how we might understand one another. Like most of my work, this performance is almost wordless. It speaks primarily in a visual language that everyone can understand.”