John Misto „MADAM RUBINŠTEIN“ rež. Raimundas Banionis

John Misto's "Madame Rubinstein"

Performance in Lithuanian language

Comic drama in two parts

Duration - 2 hours. 30 min.

Premiere - May 9, 2026

Creative team:

Director - Raimundas Banionis

Set designer - Sergejus Bocullo

Costume designer - Daiva Petrulytė

Composer - Faustas Latėnas

Director's assistant - Inga Maškarina

Director's assistant - Gelena Ivaškevič

Translated from English into Russian and adapted by Olga Varshaver and Tatiana Tulchinsky

Translated from Russian into Lithuanian Sigita Stanaitytė

Literary adaptation of the text in Lithuanian - Gytis Norvilas

Performance manager - Aleksandra Šalkinė

Actress:

Helena Rubinštein - Inga Maškarina

Elizabetė Arden - Edita Gončarova / Aleksandra Metalnikova

Patrikas O'Higginsas - Aleksandr Kanajev / Valentinas Krulikovskis

In the play "Madame Rubinstein" by the theater and film director Raimundos Banionis based on the comedy of the Australian playwright John Mist - 20th century. behind-the-scenes of the mid-century American beauty industry, the main character of which is a historical figure, an influential fish in the cosmetics business, Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965).

Although H. Rubinstein was a real historical figure, J. Misto did not write a biographical play, he only relied on the facts of her life. Coming from a Jewish family in Krakow, Chaja (later named Helena) Rubinstein became a millionaire in New York, became famous in the world for advertising, shrewdness, hard work and thrift, lived a very interesting life, and died at an already respectable age. The time of the play's action is also very specific - 1954-1965, the last decade of the heroine's life.

The comic play begins with an intriguing event - the elderly Madame Rubinstein meets the Irishman Patrick under unexpected circumstances, who later becomes her secretary, closest person, and friend. The story about the last decade of the heroine's life is very expressive, organic and convincing.

The play also aims to reveal the fates of two women - business rivals H. Rubinštein and Elisabeth Arden. Women who sacrifice everything for career and work - family, connection with children. They lived, created, dived in the business world, where there is no place for comfort or support. In order to maintain a high level, they had to be very resourceful, cunning, strong and not reckon with anyone.

"This is a play about a really unfunny and increasingly relevant thing - human loneliness. Helena Rubinstein only realized at the end of her life that she remained single, although she sought human warmth, had two sons and three spouses. She conquered the media's attention, was painted by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, was surrounded by famous people people, but at the end of her long life, she was left only with her disabled, war-injured assistant Patrick. The author of the play invites us to consider what it means to manage a global business empire, sacrificing personal life and human happiness." (Raimundas Banionis)

"Helena Rubinštein's character is very interesting, it has so many colors, such a multifaceted character, and what a subtle humor! This gives the actor unlimited creative possibilities." (Inga Maškarina)

"Inga Maškarina is one of those five percent of actors who, as director Alvis Hermanis writes in Dinorasti, are able to "reincarnate into someone else" because "the rest of them play themselves in the given circumstances all their lives". While maintaining a solid line of the character, Inga Maskarina shows the various sides of Helena Rubinstein's personality and her change, and she does it in comical circumstances, without slipping into simplification." (Ieva Tumanovičiūtė)

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John Misto (b. 1952) is an Australian playwright and screenwriter, who obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Law degree from the University of New South Wales and worked as a lawyer before becoming a playwright and a successful television scriptwriter. Mr. Misto has won awards from the Writers Guild of Australia and the Australian Film Institute, is a laureate of the National Playwriting Competition "Australia Remembers" and the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.

Raimundas Banionis (b. 1957) is a film, television and theater director. in 1980 graduated from the Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. He directed documentaries, feature films for young people, created a film opera, television series, staged drama performances in various Lithuanian theaters. It stands out for its theatricality, vivid actors' characters, dynamics, productions of classic comedies.

Photo by Telmans Ragimovs

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