VMT performance

A two-part tragicomedy, highly popular with audiences, that has been running for two decades.

Perhaps the greatest reason for the play's success is its intriguing plot, ingenious situations, and masterful dialogues, written using the authentic language of the first half of the 20th century.

Directors – Rimas Tuminas, Arvydas Dapšys

Playwright – Marius Ivaškevičius

Set and Costume Designer – Vilma Galeckaitė-Dabkienė

Composer – Faustas Latėnas

Cast:

POKŠTAS – Tomas Rinkūnas / Ramūnas Cicėnas

SALĖ – Indrė Patkauskaitė

MILĖ – Valda Bičkutė / Agnė Šataitė

HELĖ – Neringa Būtytė / Ilona Kvietkutė

MOTHER – Jūratė Brogaitė

FATHER – Almantas Šinkūnas

VERONIKA – Ilona Kvietkutė / Agnė Šataitė

OSKARAS – Mantas Vaitiekūnas

FRENCHMAN – Vytautas Rumšas (Jr.) / Jokūbas Bareikis / Balys Latėnas / Tomas Kliukas

STEPONAS – Balys Latėnas / Vytautas Rumšas (Jr.) / Jokūbas Bareikis / Petras Šimonis

STASYS – Balys Latėnas / Vytautas Rumšas (Jr.) / Jokūbas Bareikis / Tomas Kliukas / Povilas Adomaitis

LITHUANIANS – Balys Latėnas, Vytautas Rumšas (Jr.), Jokūbas Bareikis, Tomas Kliukas, Neringa Būtytė, Petras Šimonis, Povilas Adomaitis, Ilona Kvietkutė

SOLDIERS – Balys Latėnas, Vytautas Rumšas (Jr.), Jokūbas Bareikis, Tomas Kliukas, Petras Šimonis, Povilas Adomaitis

KING KONG – Vytautas Rumšas (Jr.) / Mantas Vaitiekūnas

The play is based on a piece by the widely known contemporary Lithuanian playwright Marius Ivaškevičius, which presents Lithuania as a certain phenomenon in an original, self-ironic, and intellectual way, revealing the authentic Lithuanian perspective on themselves and the world. For this work about Lithuanian utopias, the author "found" a unique and non-legendary personality from the first half of the 20th century – geographer, traveler, geopolitician, and public figure Kazys Pakštas. Sensing the fate of Lithuania, he envisioned moving it to some African country and creating a "backup" homeland there.

While the first part of director Rimas Tuminas's play, which makes the audience laugh sincerely, focuses primarily on Kazimieras Pokštas (actors Tomas Rinkūnas, Ramūnas Cicėnas) and his insane idea to "gather Lithuanians for mass emigration" to Africa, the second part belongs more to Salė (actress Indrė Patkauskaitė) and her dramatic fate, whose prototype is the sensitive poet Salomėja Nėris. In "Madagascar," the myth of S. Nėris is seemingly recreated, and Salė is turned into an equal to the utopian K. Pakštas. The second part of the play also echoes the catastrophe of the "Lituanica" piloted by S. Darius and S. Girėnas, as well as war and occupation.