Directed by: Raimundas Banionis

Set Design by: Sergej Bocullo

Costume designer: Berta Bocullo

Lighting Design by: Valdas Latonas

Composer: Faustas Latėnas

Stage Manager: Gelena Ivaškevič

Translated from French into Russian by Irina Prokhorova

Translated to Lithuanian for captions by Stasė Banionytė

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s play Partners in Crime (Petits Crimes conjugaux, 2003) is a comic drama about married life, which prompts reflection on the relationship between the couple and its evolution.

Fifteen years of marriage. One day, Gilles wakes up in a hospital with a bandage on his head. Has there been an accident? Suddenly, Gilles realises that he remembers nothing – amnesia. A few days later, a beautiful yet unfamiliar nurse visits his room and claims to be... his wife, Lisa. She takes Gilles home (?) and gradually begins to tell him about their love and life together, which he doesn’t remember. One of them is lying. Which one? Perhaps both of them? The situation turns upside down more than once.

This is an intimate play featuring two actors. The situation seems painfully familiar to many: the collisions in the relationship of two close people, the confrontation, dissatisfaction with each other – and at the same time, an invisible strong bond, commitment, and love.

The play remains relevant today – human nature doesn’t change. Each time we have to outsmart and deceive it; only to understand that it isn’t worth playing around with the noblest of feelings, in this case, love.

Schmitt (b. 1960) is a French author, director, and one of the most popular contemporary playwrights. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages, and his plays are regularly staged around the world. Schmitt is often called a ‘connoisseur of the human soul’.

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GILLES

Married life is a murderers’ union, first attacking others, then themselves. It is long road to death, strewn with corpses. A young couple tries to get rid of other people. In an old couple, each of them tries to murder their partner. When you see a man and a woman standing before the mayor, do you ask yourself which of them will be the murderer?

(Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Partners in Crime.)

Performed in Russian, with Lithuanian captions. If you want to see the captions clearly, we recommend choosing seats in the stalls from the 7th row.

Photos by: Telman Ragimov

Cast:

Inga Maškarina, Vidmantas Fijalkauskas / Aleksandr Agarkov