Marti

Director Gabrielė Tuminaitė and playwright Paulina Pukytė present audiences with a masterpiece of classic Lithuanian literature, offering a fresh and highly engaging perspective. Rejecting the stereotypical interpretations that have accumulated around this work by Žemaitė and its famous characters—Katrė, her father, Vingis Jonas and others—the creators, together with a cast spanning several generations, also offer a very different view of the author herself. The production asks whether a world that celebrates women’s emancipation and equal opportunities today has really changed so much since the world described by Žemaitė. It reflects the creators’ attempts to understand 19th-century ideas of marriage, family, love and happiness, and compare them with those of today. The Small Theatre’s *Marti* does not depict rural life. Yet the setting for the characters, created by Vytautas Narbutas—the remains of an abandoned stadium—is imbued with the atmosphere of both a decaying home and a corrupt interior. The production is full of theatrical symbolism and generalisations that create an almost surreal world. When Katrė arrives at the Vingis family home, she finds herself in what feels like a waking nightmare, from which only death can free her…