“We are emotional illiterates. And this sad fact is not just about you and me, but practically everyone. We learn about our anatomies and how grain is cultivated in Pretoria, and about the square root of pi, or whatever it’s called, but not a word about the soul. We are infinitely, hopelessly incompetent when it comes to ourselves and other people.”
Ingmar Bergman
In working on this play, the director and a multi-generational cast took a close look at Bergman’s idea of marriage. Could it still hold in today’s reality? How do people from several generations cope with relationships now, at various stages of their lives, and at various moments in their ties with another person? Does the institution of marriage still fit relationship models in the present age? Can we ever know more about love than we knew at the very beginning? Or perhaps, in spite of all the factors—age, life experience, social class, education—love just captures our heart? From the prevailing tale of romantic love, it can be hard to tease out small, conventional, and everyday stories. But it is those mundane stories that fill up our daily lives and make our emotions submit to the laws of gravity instead of drifting in a cosmic void, making them come crashing down to earth. What do we do then?
