The Suicide

“Golden Stage Cross” Awards. Agnė Šataitė, an actress at VMT, received the “Golden Stage Cross” (2014) for her leading role as Serafima Ilyinichna in “The Suicide” and her leading role as Severiutė in “Uncles and Aunts” (directed by G. Tuminaitė). VMT actor Tomas Rinkūnas was nominated for the “Golden Stage Cross” (2014) for his supporting role as Kalabushkin in “The Suicide.”

At the State Small Theatre of Vilnius: a macabre and especially relevant today comedy by Nikolai Erdman, an avant-gardist of the first half of the 20th century. It highlights the absurdity of everyday Soviet life, aptly summed up by one of the characters: “At this moment, Citizen Podsekalnikov, what you can think about while alive, you can say only when dead.” The play is full of other memorable lines about the grotesqueries of Soviet reality. One character, the courier Yegorushka, who embodies the ruling class, declares: “A word is not a sparrow: once you let it out, you can’t catch it. So, let it loose and you won’t catch it—but they’ll catch you and won’t let you go.” And: “Inspiration only after receiving an order!”

It is worth noting that permission to stage “The Suicide” was denied while the author was alive, even though the work was admired by the great masters of Russian theatre theory and practice, Konstantin Stanislavski and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Still, the worst that could have happened did not come to pass. Perhaps the playwright’s life was saved by Stalin’s half-contemptuous comment, recorded in a letter to K. Stanislavski: “A rather empty and even harmful comedy.”

With “The Suicide,” Gabrielė Tuminaitė speaks not about Soviet life but about the realities of today, about contemporary society under attack from populism and propaganda. The action takes place in a communal apartment where Semyon Podsekalnikov (actor Daumantas Ciunis) lives with his wife and mother-in-law. He is an unemployed idler who has no idea who he is or what he is doing with his life. One day, after arguing with his wife about liver sausage, he decides to kill himself. His wife, mother-in-law and neighbour try to dissuade him, but many people find his suicide useful. One urges him to kill himself for society, another for her, a third for art, and a fourth for religion. The shrewd neighbour is already collecting money for the funeral, but Podsekalnikov suddenly realises that he has no desire to die at all. He begins to reflect on both life and death.

The play is full of satire and farce, while also inviting the existentialist reflection characteristic of the genre on the meaning of life and human mortality. Is a play on this subject appropriate for a society working to combat suicide? The creative team is convinced that it is. “The main theme is not suicide; it is not about a person’s death or downfall. We are trying to create the worlds of these people. What are they like? Grotesque, colourful and interesting,” says Agnė Šataitė, who performs in the play. Paradoxically, laughter in satire or black comedy can be an effective antidote to depressive thoughts and spiritual despondency.