Mama Cat

The creators of the 2012 production “Mama Cat” were nominated for the Golden Stage Cross as Best Production for Children.

Director Evaldas Jaras’s production “Mama Cat,” based on Chilean writer Luis Sepúlveda’s book “The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly,” has attracted great interest ever since its premiere in 2011. The State Small Theatre of Vilnius is packed every time it is performed.

For children aged five and older, the production introduces young audiences to a real mafia—or, more precisely, a wild gang of cats. They are like prototypes of characters from famous mafia films, living by rules and codes of their own devising; each has a status and duties. Most importantly, none of them lacks a sense of humor.

In what at first appears to be an ordinary apartment-block courtyard, beside a high brick wall, utterly unbelievable things happen: a gang of fat cats, made lazy by their “mafioso” lifestyle, finds a very young seagull, and suddenly their whole lives are turned upside down...

How should we act when confronted with an unfamiliar environment and way of seeing the world? Should we change and adapt to a different way of life, or try to change others? Or should we strive to ensure that everyone has the chance to remain distinctive and individual? How can a seagull learn to fly when her mother is Zorbas, a fat cat who likes nothing more than lying on the balcony and basking in the sun? How will Zorbas respond to this challenge? How will the other courtyard cats react to his choice? Will the young seagull learn to fly? And, ultimately, how does sharing your life with someone else change you inside? What wonderful qualities of character might you discover in yourself, even though until recently you had no idea you possessed them?