Premiere. Based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert. MADAME BOVARY, dir. Oliver FRLJIĆ

Having created the play “Metamorphosis” based on the work of Franz Kafka at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, one of Europe's most prominent directors, often called a “theatre provocateur” by critics, Oliver Frljić presents a new adaptation and a new work based on Gustave Flaubert's novel “Madame Bovary”.

Emma's downfall, according to the director, is neither a moral failure nor the fate of a victim in the aforementioned work. It arises from a contradiction at the core of existence: the character is encouraged to desire freedom, romance, and self-realization, yet the same society that creates these desires offers very few ways to achieve them. Emma's struggle takes place between what she was taught to want and what the world allows her to become.

“Instead of judging Emma, this play explores the mechanisms that create her. It looks at “Madame Bovary” not only as a story of one woman's unfulfillment, but also as an investigation of the social forces that shape our desires. Emma's fate reveals how identity, fantasies, and ambitions are formed through stories we inherit before we even recognize them as our own.

Another reason why this work feels so contemporary is that we never fully know whose voice we are hearing. Sometimes a sentence seems to belong to the narrator, and then suddenly it sounds like Emma's thought, a social cliché, or even our own, the readers', judgment. Flaubert constantly erases those boundaries, making it difficult to distinguish observation from desire, irony from sincerity, or criticism from identification. Instead of telling us what to think about Emma, the novel draws us into the language that shapes her,” says the author of the adaptation and director Oliver Frljić.

Oliver Frljić (b. 1976) is one of the most prominent European theatre creators, a director, actor, and writer, often called a “theatre provocateur” by critics. On stage, he usually raises complex and socially uncomfortable questions, speaks sharply on social topics, and in his work, he mostly reacts to current problems and situations. More than one of his plays has caused a significant stir in society, such as his play about antisemitism in Poland, which became a prominent and scandalous event in neighboring Poland when it was cancelled at the Old Theatre in Krakow in 2013, or the play “The Curse” staged at the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw in 2017. The director is invited to create on various stages and is also a resident at the Gorki Theatre in Berlin.