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Silver Lion winner Mario Banushi brings “Mami” to Vilnius
🇱🇹 Lithuania /Culture & Society

Silver Lion winner Mario Banushi brings “Mami” to Vilnius

From Delfi · () Lithuanian

Translated from Lithuanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Mario Banushi’s “Mami,” a work about motherhood, memory and the relationship between mothers and children, will be presented at Vilnius’s Lithuanian National Drama Theatre during the Sirenos festival.
  • The Albanian-born director won a Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale and has received awards at the BITEF festival in Belgrade.
  • Banushi says the play draws on his childhood, including separation from his mother and being raised among several women in Albania and Athens.

Mario Banushi built “Mami” from memories of motherhood, separation and the women who raised him. The Albanian-born director will bring the play to Vilnius for the Sirenos international theatre festival.

My mother brought not only me into this world, but thousands of other children as well. She was a midwife. This play is a hymn to all the women who raised us.

— Mario BanushiBanushi explains the inspiration and dedication behind “Mami.”

The production premiered in Athens in February 2025 and later received broad recognition in France after appearing at the Avignon Festival. Le Monde and Libération praised its emotional depth and distinctive theatrical vision. The play is scheduled for presentation at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre’s Grand Hall during the festival, with the article giving Oct. 2 and 3 in one passage and Oct. 3 and 4 in another.

Banushi’s career has advanced quickly. After showing his first play in a friend’s house in Greece because of limited funding, he attracted the attention of the Greek National Theatre and was invited to create work there. His second production won critical acclaim and invitations to major festivals. At 26, he was invited into Avignon’s main program, and a year later he received the Venice Biennale’s prestigious Silver Lion.

I see birth as ‘love in reverse’.

— Mario BanushiHe describes the play’s view of birth and the mother-child relationship.

“Mami” replaces words with images, sounds and emotion. Its visual language draws on personal memories, dreams, nostalgia and Balkan folklore. Banushi describes the play as a hymn to women who raised children and an ode to beauty, motherhood and love.

When I was one, my mother had to leave and left me with my grandmother in Albania. I called my grandmother ‘mami’ until I was 13.

— Mario BanushiBanushi recalls the childhood experience that shaped the play’s title and subject.

“When I was one, my mother had to leave and left me with my grandmother in Albania. I called my grandmother ‘mami’ until I was 13,” Banushi says. He recalls later living with his mother in Athens in an apartment above the bakery where she worked. “I grew up surrounded by many women, young and old. I had more than one mother.”

I grew up surrounded by many women, young and old. I had more than one mother.

— Mario BanushiHe describes the women who cared for him and to whom he dedicates the production.
About this summary

Originally published by Delfi in Lithuanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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