Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's play Petits Crimes conjugaux (2003) is a comedy about married life, which can also be described as a drama that encourages reflection on the relationship between married couples and its evolution.

Fifteen years of marriage. One day, Gilles wakes up in hospital with a bandage on his head. Has there been an accident? Suddenly he realises he has no memory of anything - amnesia. A few days later, an unseen nurse, a beautiful woman, comes to the ward and claims to be... his wife Lisa. She brings Gilles home (?) and slowly begins to tell him about their love and their life together, which he cannot remember. One of them lies. Which one? Or maybe both? The situation turns upside down more than once.

This is a chamber play with two actors. The situation seems to be painfully familiar to most - the clashes, confrontations, dissatisfaction with each other and at the same time the invisible strong bond, commitment and love between two people who are close to each other.

The play shines a light on the human being as if through an X-ray, highlighting the not always obvious vices: vanity, blindness dictated by pride and ambition, possessiveness, pretension... to an illusory eternal love, the inability to appreciate it. The play never ceases to be relevant - human nature does not change, we have to play it every time, deceive it, in order to understand that it is not worth joking with the noblest feelings, in this case love.

É.-E. Schmitt's dialogues are exceptional: masterful, expressive, subtle, the playwright is able to speak simply about complex subjects. These are signs of talent. The playwright remains faithful to classical theatre, yet the dialogues are in themselves only black letters on white paper - they come alive with the intelligence, wit, erudition and talent of the actors.

"Two actors are both very little and very much. A little, because they have nowhere to hide, they are on the palm of your hand, there is not a single second of respite - they are always in the audience's sight. A lot, because the actor can use the barely noticeable nuances: the timbre of the voice, the glances, the smile at the corner of the lips. An actor does not have to fight for the audience's attention indiscriminately - he has almost no competitors. But it takes an inhuman effort to keep their attention throughout the performance." (Raimundas Banionis)

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