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 comedy by Nikolai Erdman, an avant-garde artist of the first half of the 20th century, which sounds especially relevant today. It highlights the absurdity of everyday Soviet life, captured well by one of the characters: “At this time, citizen Podsekalnikov, what you can think about while alive, you can say only when dead.” The play is also full of other memorable lines about the grimaces of Soviet reality. One character, the courier Yegorushka, who embodies the ruling class, declares: “A word is not a sparrow: let it fly and you can’t catch it. So, let it loose and you can’t catch it—but they’ll catch you and never let you go”; and, “Inspiration only after receiving an order!”

It is worth noting that permission to stage “The Suicide” was not granted while its 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 at the time did not. Perhaps the playwright’s life was saved by Stalin’s somewhat dismissive comment, recorded in a letter to K. Stanislavski: “A rather empty and even harmful comedy.”

With “The Suicide,” Gabrielė Tuminaitė speaks not about Soviet reality, but about life today and contemporary society, under attack from populism and propaganda. The action takes place in a communal apartment, where Semion Podsekalnikov (actor Daumantas Ciunis) lives with his wife and mother-in-law. He is an unemployed idler, unsure of 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 talk him out of it, but many people find his suicide useful. One urges him to die for society, another for her, a third for art, and a fourth for religion. A 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 reflecting on the meaning of life and human mortality in a way characteristic of existentialism. Is this an appropriate subject for a play in a society fighting suicide? Absolutely, the creative team believes. “The main theme is not suicide; it is not about a person’s death or downfall. We are trying to create worlds for 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.