Freedom Defenders’ Day Matinee: GIRL WITH A RIFLE

This is the story of a girl named Magdė, whose parents and entire family were deported to Siberia at the end of the Second World War, when the Russians arrived after the Germans had withdrawn. With the help of her teacher, who is also a partisan, the girl moves into a bunker and becomes a partisan herself, saving more than one person’s life. The story is based on the recollections of witnesses and freedom fighters from that time, historical material, and the account of a former partisan courier about a girl who lived with partisans in a bunker for a time. This play is therefore about the courage of the most vulnerable—children—in critical situations, and their instinct for survival. Despite its difficult personal experiences and historical context, the story remains warm and witty. As an adult, Magdė confesses to a carved statue of the Sorrowful Christ that she is a terrible coward. Yet, without knowing what partisans or bunkers are, she bravely accepts her new reality and the unknown. After all, courage is not about being unafraid. Courage is facing your fear and taking action. The action-packed play retains the book’s witty storytelling tone: Magdė herself and her Teacher, the only two survivors of the bunker’s explosion, recount the events they remember. The audience becomes part of the story and helps tell this densely layered, remarkable account of survival. “Both the composer and I grew up listening to our parents’ stories about our partisan grandparents, so the subject is very personal to us. I suppose there is no family in Lithuania that has not been touched by war—by deportations or attempts to resist. In today’s global context, we want to tell these stories again and again, because listening to them reminds us once more that it is worth defending our values even against a much stronger enemy, because today we are free,” says the play’s director.