“Madman“ / OKT | Vilnius City Theatre / III international theater festival „TheATRIUM“

After N. Gogol’s novel “Madman’s Diary” (translated by M. Miškinis)

Director: Oskaras Koršunovas

Acting: Eimantas Pakalka

Performance in Lithuanian with English subtitles.

Duration: 1 h (without intermission)

Premiere: 2018

How a simple public servant, someone nearly invisible, may suddenly become a totally destructive and socially dangerous force? The answer is to be found at the opening night of A Madman, the play directed by Oskaras Koršunovas based on Nikolai Gogol’s short story. Having seen the world premiere where the play appears to be created – in the Catalonia region in Spain, shattered by political coups – the artists return to Lithuania, where the fascism of normality is becoming overwhelmingly common and local madmen start raging.

According to the director, N. Gogol, the Ukrainian classic who lived in the 19th century, seems to be precise and competent as a contemporary political observer, analysing the situation both in Lithuania and across the entire Europe.

‘Sometimes you don’t even have to interpret but just read and understand. Aren’t the following lines by Gogol of relevance to the contemporary Lithuania: ‘After all, there are plenty examples throughout history: somebody plain, not some nobleman, just a simple townsman or even a villager – and suddenly it turns out that he is some grandee, or even a ruler. If it occasionally comes out of the peasant, when what may come out of a nobleman?’ - O. Koršunovas concludes the idea.