Saturday, 3rd May 2025, 7:30pm
Croatian House of Culture in Sušak
Okt/ Vilnius city theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania

Inspired by the novel Mary of Egypt by Vidmantė Jasukaitytė: The Saint

Direction, choreography, set and costume design: Eglė Jackaitė and Oskaras Koršunovas

Created by: Eglė Jackaitė, Kunigunda Dineikaitė, Dali Rust, Oskaras Koršunovas
Cast: Eglė Jackaitė

Running time: 80 minutes

The strong female voice of the Lithuanian literature Vidmantė Jasukaitytė and her novel Mary of Egypt inspired one of the best contemporary directors Oskaras Koršunovas to stage a monodrama based on the eponymous novel with the actress Eglė Jackaitė. The story of a saint from Alexandria who lived in the 4th century as a harlot openly quenching her lust to the world`s disgust and experienced enlightenment during a visit to the Holy Sepulchre, has served as an inspiration for discussion on the current position of women living on the margins.
Instead of a saint who wandered through the desert after her conversion, this contemporary Mary meanders through an urban wasteland in search of liberation. The play poses a number of questions: Has civilization brought less violence to society? Has the world become more empathetic? More lenient? More tolerant? And finally, less patriarchal? Today, the authors of the play claim that Mary of Egypt can be any woman – mother, daughter, sister, wife – who has to navigate the sharp distinction between the sacred and the sinful every day.
Mary of Egypt takes us to an uncharted and extremely uncomfortable, yet equally important, territory. Holy is a territory of abuse, where a woman who has suffered nothing but exploitation and addiction all her life finds the strength to overcome the crisis and make a radical change. It is a play about a woman`s survival in a fundamentally patriarchal world filled with violence against women.

(Photo: D. Matvejev)