Photo by Dmitrij Matvejev

The fire of incest strikes between a teenaged brother and sister from an absolutely undistinguished, “normal” family. What is rotten within the kingdom of “normality”? Burning with hatred towards their parents who lack love and life as well as towards their home, flaring with anxiety as well as intimidating lust Kurt and Olga decide to resort to extreme measures.

You should see Kurt and Olga seated on the edges of the sofa observing their parents coldly. (…) Horrible children in merciless world. Hell is here – within simple daily routine and greyness that penetrate you through every pore of your skin. Permeating boredom and despair, a suppressed rebellion; devastating emptiness and nothingness; loneliness incapable of communication. Complete blackness. Here, fire is not the means of purification but rather of pagan hell, where the entire humanity is slowly sinking into.

By Zoé Lin. Family History Stiff in Fire (Lith. Gaisre sustingusios šeimos istorija). L’Humanité, July 16, 2002

Olga (by phenomenal Rasa Samuolytė) – is at the same time a teenager and a prostitute (…). Kurt is sometimes pathetic, sometimes - funny. Whenever we start thinking of him as an ordinary teenager, the actor makes a grimace and instead of our previous conviction we are overcome by anxiety. (…) Everything’s upside down at Kurt’s home. Parents aren’t parents and children aren’t children (…). From the perspective of the parents, their children are monsters. From the perspective of the children, their parents are dead and only pretending to exist. (…) Love has died in this family. Kurt and Olga try to find a substitute for it. It may be death or sex.

By Lukasz Drewniak. Guy with Matches (Lith. Vaikinas su degtukais). No. 10, Teatras , November 2000

Furniture, bathtubs, toilets, TV sets, and washing machines occupy so much space that there’s hardly any left for the actors who are forced to climb the tables, wardrobes, sofas and sometimes to step down into the audience. This perfect staging has managed to convey metaphorically something that German theatre would have expressed directly. And this staging has had a much more powerful effect in comparison to the performance by Thomas Ostermeier shown in Torun two years ago. (…) Recently, the usage of material goods has become the highest value of the society in such a state as Lithuania. Theatre reveals moral emptiness that lurks behind the life based on trade transactions.

By Roman Pawlowski. Seven Trips of Polish Theatre Critic in Search of Lithuanian Theatre (Lith. Septynios lenkų kritiko kelionės ieškant Lietuvos teatro). Kultūros barai, No.4, 2001