Marius Ivaškevičius' "Mistras", like "Madagascar", offers an unconventional look at famous historical figures, an unconventional consideration of the identity of the Lithuanian nation. At the center of "Mistro" is the biography and fate of Adam Mickevičius, and at the same time - the search for a "real" hero, whom we perhaps unconsciously long for today. In the play, the image of "exotic" Lithuania emerges - a country where "everything is still confused, not crystallized: Russia, inside it - Poland, inside Poland - Lithuania, and inside it - dishes waiting to explode"; of a country where people, raising a glass, wish each other to "resurrect in literature" and to whom "all lands are equally foreign". Also, as in "Madagascar", the characters are obsessed with utopian ideas and projects, the obsession with creating theories that are striking in their originality.
Mistra is the Lithuanian landowner Andžejus Towianskis, who declared himself a prophet, the lord's deputy on earth and founded the sect "God's Cause" in Paris. With his mystical ideas, he completely enslaves Adam Mickevičius, who is no longer young and searching for the meaning of life and sources of creative renewal, and finally destroys the great poet. However, Rimos Tumin's performance, full of mesmerizing images and enveloping in a thick theatrical atmosphere, encompasses more. "The play is about a journey home, a journey to the homeland. It's an eternal, recurring theme. Longing for home, homeland, freedom, beauty. The closer the end of the journey, the greater the longing. And the more clearly you realize that many things will have changed, the more expensive and significant it all seems - the clod, the smell, the sound of the native land", says the director.
On December 31, 2006, the hundredth performance of "Madagascar" was played, we gathered for a glass of wine in the café of the Little Theater and then I said that I had an idea for a play about Adam Mickevičius. Rim Tumins responded very enthusiastically, and I no longer had any doubts about who I would write this play for.
I didn't imagine the actors when I was writing, but when the characters "formed" - I "measured" them in my head exactly on the "Madagascars". Naturally, after "Madagascar" we communicated a lot, we traveled together with the play, we became quite close. That's roughly how the roles were distributed, in this case our visions coincided with Rim's.
I really like how Tumin works with actors, his attention to details, stage humor. I am really glad that we had the chance to meet him for the second time in our lives. And after all, we could pass.
The place of action is Paris
Time of action - 1840
