Patina (Lithiania, Valstybinis Šiaulių dramos teatras). Festival Theatre in Close-Up

With the Liepāja Theatre Festival Theatre in Close-Up, one of the key programmes of Liepāja – European Capital of Culture 2027 will begin this year – the Open Theatre Quarter.

In 2025, the festival will take place from 21 to 24 August, presenting five international theatre productions from Finland, Lithuania, and Poland, along with one production by the Liepāja Theatre.

This initiative is dedicated to the development and accessibility of theatre arts, strengthening the role of the genre on regional, national, and international levels.

Patina (Lithiania, Valstybinis Šiaulių dramos teatras)

In Lithuaninan (surtitles in Latvian and English)

Patina – a thin green, brown, or blue film that forms on the surface of copper, brass, or bronze objects, either due to moisture or intentional treatment with oxidizing agents.

It is an early spring morning. The sky is overcast. The family is preparing to sit down for breakfast, but one of the sons is late. How can he allow himself such behavior? After all, certain rules must be followed in this house: don’t be late, don’t hide anything, speak on time, and fall silent on time. The family abides by these rules, and so must anyone who enters the home.

In Virginija Rimkaitė’s play Patina, we meet closest family members, yet their formal and cold interactions reveal that the playwright is telling a story about a family in crisis. At the center of the play is the Mother, who creates a myth of the harsh world outside the home and, in contrast, the illusion of a safe space inside. However, here, safety equals complete control over family members. The eldest son, Henrikas, born with a congenital heart defect, lacks strong social skills, and we witness his absurdly comical attempts to form relationships with women—candidates his Mother selects to become his wives and caretakers. Alongside him moves the younger son, Albertas, whose silence clearly conceals something. The events of a single day in the play escalate into dramatic consequences of rebellion against the Mother’s system.

Director Eglė Švedkauskaitė says she is intrigued by the world constructed by the Mother, in which the other characters slowly become hostages:
“Being as ruthless with herself as she is with others, the Mother protects the myth she herself has created about family welfare and values. Family relationships have always been a relevant topic in society—the family changes with changing times, which brings ruptures and conflicts between people with different beliefs, between generations. In this performance, we will speak about a distorted reality, where family values become a justification for cruelty.”

• Playwright – Virginija Rimkaitė
• Director – Eglė Švedkauskaitė
• Composer – Vytautas Leistrumas
• Set Designer – Ona Juciūtė
• Video Artist – Aneta Bublytė
• Lighting Designer – Julius Kuršis
• Costume Designer – Elvita Brazdylytė
• Cast: Nomeda Bėčiūtė / Monika Šaltytė, Tautvydas Galkauskas, Josif
• Baliukevič, Aistė Šeštokaitė / Monika Geštautaitė, Inga Jarkova-Bučienė, Lina Bocytė.

The project Liepāja Theatre Festival “Theatre in Close-Up” is being implemented as part of the Liepāja 2027 programme with funding provided by the Ministry of Culture, the City of Liepāja, and the municipalities of South Kurzeme and Kuldīga.