Birutė Kapustinskaitė: “How to survive mourning if the feeling of loss lasts longer than your loved ones expect?” | Culture

The play is directed by Eglė Švedkauskaitė based on a new play by Birutė Kapustinskaitė. Birutė Kapustinskaitė’s plays are characterized by lively pictures of characters and tragicomic plots, she creates stories not only for the theater but also for the cinema. Among her most famous works are “Therapies” (awarded the Golden Cross of the Stage in 2018), “Dance for Object and Child”, “Detoxification”. in 2023 She created an adaptation of the book of the same name by Jurga Vilė and Lina Itagaki for the LNDT play “Siberian Haiku”.

In the performance “Stand-up for meaning and meaninglessness”, the audience will see two characters: Mother – a famous presenter (actress Vitalija Mockevičiūtė) and Son – a successful companion stand-up performer (actor Karolis Kasperavičius). Both of them are not looking for a word in their pocket, but when faced with the suicide of the Father, it becomes difficult for them to talk.

Photo by Roko Morkūnas/”Stand-up for meaning and meaninglessness” rehearsal

As the premiere approaches, Ieva Raudeliūnaitė prepared an interview with the author of the play, Biruta Kapustinskaite.

– How did the idea of ​​writing the play “Stand-up for meaning and meaninglessness” come about?

– I decided to write the play while visiting South Korea. During one project, we had to create a joint play together with two other Korean writers. At the initial stage of the project, we tried to refine a topic that would connect Lithuania and South Korea. We were surprised to come to the conclusion that both countries have high suicide rates. During the preparation stage, together with other authors, we decided that we would write three separate plays. So while I was still in South Korea, I wrote the first pages of the text and realized that it would be stand-up a comedy in which two characters will act – a mother and her son, who survive the suicide of their husband and father.

– How did you decide that the play should also include stand-up comedy motifs?

– Stand-up the idea arose even before the play was written. I was looking for an appropriate way to speak to the public about the sensitive and difficult topic of suicide. I had never written stand-up comedy, but I knew I wanted to use the tragicomedy. In the play stand-up interweaves with the dramatic part, the dialogues of the characters, which reveal not only their mutual relationships, but also their relationship with society. Stand-up parts in the play help both to convey the character’s reactions to the topics discussed during the dialogues and to express emotions.

Photo by Roko Morkūnas/”Stand-up for meaning and meaninglessness” rehearsal

– Is there a different attitude of mother and son towards suicide, loss and mourning in the play?

– In the play, the focus is more on the relationship between two well-known people with the public and different views on the mourning process. I raise the question of how to survive mourning if the feeling of loss lasts much longer than the relatives expect from you. How do you deal with difficult emotions when you don’t want to talk about them? In the story of a mother and son, a family member committed suicide several years ago, but they still struggle to reconcile and move on with their lives. In the play, the issues of the complexity of loss, the rush to return to normal life and ether, both figuratively and literally, are important. I find the moment of silence interesting. I think it is also present in the generation of young people.

– How to write about sensitive topics of loss and mourning?

– As in the previous plays “Therapies” or “Detoxification”, which deal with the topics of women with cancer and alcohol addiction, in this one I use humor as a way to convey a sensitive topic without making it primitive, but giving it transparency and lightness. I think the most direct way to the viewer’s heart is through hope, light and humor, trying to slowly open them up and talk to them.

We stay with those who choose to live, and we can no longer talk to those who have left. However, with this performance we can talk to those who may have thought or will think about suicide. I hope that through dialogue we will reach them and that we will encourage them to talk about it.

– Do you think the theater can be a place to talk about it?

– I think that the theater can be a place where it is possible to feel heard, understood, and perhaps invited to dialogue safely and without being forced by anyone. I am interested in creating an opportunity to talk about multi-layered topics. As with bereavement, there is no single possible answer. Those who survive it are often accompanied by a feeling of guilt for paying too little attention, not calling, not being able to turn back time. But are the bereaved really to blame for what happened?