Martin Algus. MAGNOLIAS OF SULFUR, dir. Eglė ŠVEDKAUSKAITĖ

On October 20, the play MAGNOLIAS OF SULFUR will be performed with English subtitles. Subtitles are best viewed from rows 6-10.

Director, adaptation author — Oliver FRLJIĆ

Set designer, video projection author — Igor PAUŠKA

Costume designer — Morta NAKAITĖ

Artist - Dainius URBONIS

Assistant director — Augustas GORNATKEVIČIUS

Producer — Agnė PULOKAITĖ

CAST

Rasa SAMUOLYTĖ, Rimantė VALIUKAITĖ, Gediminas RIMEIKA, Aistė ZABOTKAITĖ, Algirdas GRADAUSKAS, Kęstutis CICĖNAS, Marius Michailas REPŠYS, Rytis SALADŽIUS, Augustė ŠIMULYNAITĖ, Vaidilė JUOZAITYTĖ, Jūratė VILŪNAITĖ, Toma VAŠKEVIČIŪTĖ.

You can kill a man, but you cannot force him to be someone else. (Robert Antelme)

How, when, and why do we stop looking at the Other as a human being? At the very core of Franz Kafka's work, one can always detect the examination of different forms of dehumanization. The story of Gregor Samsa, who turned into an insect, raises the question of the limits of our empathy for others: how the process of identification takes place, how the Other is constructed, and whether we are capable of accepting the Other as part of humanity. This play aims to examine the complex dialectical relationship between two different political (in the broad sense) mechanisms: empathetic identification on one hand, and dehumanization on the other.

The field of meaning in Kafka's works is incredibly broad and does not yield to simple, unambiguous interpretations. In order to open up their different levels, the most important thing in the play is to establish a dialogue with the reality in which we live.

On July 28, 1914, the First World War began, and just a few days later, F. Kafka began writing his most famous novel, "The Trial" (which remained unfinished and was published without the author's permission only after his death). And although these two events are not linked by mutual causality, the experience of war is evident both in this and in other works by the author. Kafka scholars argue that in "The Trial," he foresaw the totalitarian ideologies that soon engulfed Europe, and also predicted the nature of that war. When Russia started the war against Ukraine on February 24, it was said that this war would begin the next stage of European history and introduce a new world order. Thus, it may be that we, Europeans of the 2020s, like Kafka, who became a contemporary of the First World War, will experience an era of upheaval after which a new order will prevail in the world.