The Mousetraps

What is a crime? Which is the greater crime—to kill or to take one’s own life? Is a lack of love a crime? How can you honour your father and mother if you have experienced a lack of unconditional love yourself? What should you choose: justice or mercy? Seen through the eyes of a young person coming of age, this subjective narrative seeks above all to uncover and understand the motives and circumstances behind a murder, and to expose all possible culprits. It deconstructs and deliberately reimagines the classic story of Hamlet, inviting audiences to look at it from a different angle. Here, mousetraps become spiritual traps, and those caught in them cannot escape a confrontation with themselves: for some it will be destructive, for others cleansing, and perhaps even a source of hope. The Keistuolių teatras repertoire has included director Ieva Stundžytė’s plays for young audiences that address uncomfortable and controversial subjects—M. McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” and M. Norman’s “’night, Mother”—which have attracted considerable audience interest. This time, too, the aim of “The Mousetraps” is to speak openly and examine family relationships, raise uncomfortable questions about conflict between generations, and seek possible ways to understand one another.