It’s possible to die happily. But is it possible to live happily? Thea is celebrating her fifteenth birthday. She should be choosing a high school and experiencing her first loves. Instead, she spends her days caring for her sick mother, the attractive fifty-something Marta, who was diagnosed with cancer. One would expect her older adult daughter, Irena, to take care of her, but Irena packed her bags and disappeared to who knows where. Even though her prognosis doesn’t give her much chance of survival, Marta refuses to let their apartment in a prefab building turn into a gloomy place of death. On the contrary, she wants to fall in love, and be loved, one last time. She creates an account on an online dating site, flirts with the nurses, and with the delivery service couriers. And on top of all that, there’s Uncle Emil, who’s salivating over the inheritance and would love nothing more than to have Marta declared incompetent. If Thea is to ensure that her mother’s final days are dignified, she’ll have to grow up before her time. But does she actually want to be an adult? Can adulthood bring anyone happiness? Or is it just a long wait for death, and for the once-beautiful relationships between parents and children to fall apart? Michaela Zakuťanská (*1987) is considered one of the most original contemporary Slovak playwrights. In addition to theatre and radio plays, she is also behind the successful Slovak sitcom Kavej. Her experience writing sitcoms is clearly evident in the play Adulthood. Where we might expect a depressing drama, Zakuťanská delivers a refreshing black tragicomedy that examines serious questions about life and death with surprising lightness and maturity.

Czech premiere: 19^th March 2027 at the Reduta Theatre

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