Gardenia centres around four women – four generations of women of the same family. Each of them tells their story in their own time, from the Second World War to the present. The women come together in a timeless stage space, where their stories intertwine.
The play sheds light on how family patterns, convictions and experiences – love and affection, but also pain and violence – are passed down from mother to daughter. We cannot choose the family or the time that we are born in, but can we – and if so, how much – choose how to live our lives? The play is not trying to find the culprit but to ask: how much is there room in us to make our own choices and create our own lives?
Gardenia – much like the plant of the same name – symbolises hope, trust and love. The production looks for the tender moments in the relationships between women where pain and affection are present at the same time. It is a story of mothers and daughters, of hope and a will to live, the freedom of choice and the inevitability of fate.
The play is set in Poland, but the topics it discusses are cross-cultural. The text has been staged in numerous countries around the world, including Hungary, Romania, Italy, Slovakia, and the United States, where it received praise for its universal themes and human depth.
Cast
Alice Siil, Getter Meresmaa, Doris Tislar, Katariina Tamm (guest)