The Mother, The State Small Theatre of Vilnius (VMT)

On March 2, 1990, The State Small Theatre of Vilnius was established. In the new home, in the very heart of Vilnius, Gediminas avenue 22, the State Small Theatre of Vilnius finally settled in autumn of 2005. The history of the State Small Theatre of Vilnius is firstly the theatre vision history of director Rimas Tuminas. The performances directed by Rimas Tuminas, such as “The Cherry Orchard”, “Smile upon us, Lord” (1994), “Masquerade” (1997), “Inspector” (2001) and others visited a number of countries – from Sweden to Italy, from South Korea to Mexico – and won numerous prestigious awards and became the theatre’s visiting card.

The current theatre repertory consists of the works by Rimas Tuminas as well as performances created by young directors and acknowledged Lithuanian and foreign directors.

THE MOTHER (VASSA ZHELEZNOVA)

A play in two acts

Director: Kiril Glusajev

Today’s interest in Gorky’s work lies in those voluminous decisions that can be found in the conflicts he created between materiality and spirituality, between sociability and individuality. This is presented notably in his play The Mother, which we may see as a very Lithuanian story, but at the same time it is fully recognisable in every society as a situation where one’s own flesh and blood might try to harm each other for a legacy. Here, the spotlight falls on the person of Vassa Zheleznova. First of all, she is a mother, who has been saving money for her children for 20 years, but now it is clear that the children are damaged and misguided. Unfortunately, while she was building up their future, Vassa didn’t think of looking after the present. A family as a unit is much more sensitive than society. No matter what that family looks like … I am much more interested in theatre when we are talking about a conflict

between humans as individuals, rather than between different social strata, ideologies or sports teams. In this case, we are talking about a conflict between members of one’s own flesh and blood.

May 20-21, 2017 Mengminwei Concert Hall, Tsinghua University