Two chairs, one bench and an extraordinary story is all it took for Paul Rajeckas to win over audiences at the Quick Center this past weekend.
Rajeckas’s “Notes to the Motherland” is a complex narrative about family, legacy and humanity. In this one-man show, Rajeckas chronicles his childhood as a first-generation Lithuanian immigrant, then explores his family’s history.
Rajeckas portrays every member of his family, from his father to his grandmother. Although to play the women in his family Rajeckas changes into women’s clothing, it almost seems unnecessary because his mannerisms and vocal abilities outweigh any costume. The key to “Motherland” is something so many modern productions often forget: imagination. With just the application of a dress or the noise of ticking clock, an emotion can be evoked. It is with this organic simplicity that “Motherland” transports audiences back to a time when storytelling outweighed any theatrics.
Rajeckas, playing himself at all stages of life, journeys back and forth from childhood to adulthood as if no time had elapsed. Recalling both the good memories of baking with his grandmother and the bad memories of his parents fighting, Rajeckas shows that memories are ageless.
Emotionally, there are certain things that you never move past. For Rajeckas, it was the discovery on a trip to Lithuania that his mother had collaborated with the Nazis. The rest of the play, and, arguably the rest of Rajeckas’s real life, have become understanding how this could happen.
How is it that this woman, whom he knew and loved, could have committed such an act?
Although the answer to this question will never be known because Rajeckas’s mother is deceased, it is the journey that propels “Motherland.” It is not just a story about Rajeckas’s family, but one of humanity and what sometimes makes us able to commit such acts of inhumanity.
Even more important is that “Motherland” asks, What makes someone risk their life for humanity? Even though Rajeckas’s mother worked with the Nazis, his grandmother worked against them, risking her own life. It is in the opposition of these characters that we see the true double-edged sword that is human nature: good and evil personified.
With the gift of hindsight, it is easy for us to write off acts of evil by humanity as by-products of the war and culture of the time. “Motherland” forces audiences to look at both sides of the story.
As for Rajeckas, this story is not just one of humanity, but one of the legacy of his family nearly bringing him to tears. A legacy that is a long, mysterious road with no end in sight, it is with this same desire for catharsis that Rajeckas will continue to perform “Motherland” around the country.
Putting the question of humanity’s stark moral choices to audiences, which side of the sword would you choose?
Leave a Reply