13th Madách International Theatre Meeting

Lenka is forced to return from abroad to her childhood apartment after her mother Snežana, who suffers from advanced dementia, is expelled from a nursing home. The reunion traps them inside a home that feels less like a place than a distorted memory, where past and present collapse into one another. After years of silence, mother and daughter are confronted not only with each other, but with everything they have spent their lives trying to forget.

“The new play by the young and talented author Nina Plavanjac is a layered, lyrical, and deeply psychological family drama that premiered on the stage of the National Theatre in Subotica. (…) This young author writes in a distinctive style—emotional, clear, painful, yet healing. The Aquarium reflects that same quality, and the cast succeeds in sensing every written word, its strength, and in conveying the torrent of emotions that fills the play. All the locked traumas, wounds, and emotional pain threaten to overwhelm the heroines of this drama. Although at first it seems that the young Lenka is the main protagonist, a closer analysis reveals that the grandmother Stanija is actually the central figure. If we were to look even deeper psychologically, it might be Stanija’s mother—or another woman in the ancestral line. As descendants, we inherit not only physical traits such as build, hair, or eye color, but also patterns of behavior, unresolved fears, and belief systems that are difficult to change. This powerful yet cathartic performance speaks precisely about such inheritance. (…) The Aquarium is a performance that will make you cry, reflect, and feel love and respect—for yourself, your mother, and all the women who came before you.”

Jelena S. Perić, Radio Belgrade