Rakvere Theatre’s Matchbox confronts a mother’s unending grief

Rakvere Theatre’s solo production Matchbox follows a mother struggling to live with the loss of her young daughter after a random street shooting, ERR’s review reported. Written by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness and directed by Kaili Viidas, the production premiered on June 27 in Rakvere.

McGuinness sets the play on Valentia Island in County Kerry, one of Ireland’s westernmost points. The island is about 11 kilometres long and three kilometres wide, with nearly 700 permanent residents. It can be reached by bridge or ferry.

The production was performed at Köster Gööck House, a school building completed in 1865 and associated with several major figures in Estonian cultural history. The contrast between the play’s setting and the Rakvere venue creates a deliberate artistic dissonance. The high, echoing room conveys a general sense that life disappeared from within its walls long ago.

The isolation of an apparently empty island, the passage of a day from early morning to night and the oppressive circle of shadows from the past all have to be created by the production’s only actor. Silja Miks plays Sal, a single mother who moved temporarily from Ireland to England and has now returned home.

The role requires Miks to carry a difficult story across two hours without an interval. Its emotional range moves from suppressed apathy to furious outbursts, explosive protest and actual explosions. Director Kaili Viidas is strongly supported by the rest of the creative team, especially composer Liisa Hirsch, whose work blends naturally into the production’s soundscape.

That soundscape also includes noises created on stage, such as the striking of a match, the adjustment of clothing and the actor’s breathing. Arthur Arula’s initially bare stage gradually changes, creating new fields of meaning.

Miks’s Sal is consistently sombre and concentrated. Her mostly short lines fly directly into the auditorium, and despite the large amount of text, the performance rarely feels like idle talk.

This is not easy viewing. The story offers no good solutions and describes a loss from which there is no recovery. A young girl has been killed in a street shooting. The crime is senseless and accidental, while its perpetrators escape punishment without showing the slightest remorse.

McGuinness’s one-woman play tells the story from the perspective of a mother condemned to carry the burden of loss forever. It asks how someone can emerge from trauma when a crime has not been followed by punishment, and what can be done when justice seems unlikely to come either through state institutions or divine intervention.

The production credits include a translation by Lauri Saaber, set design by Arthur Arula, music by Liisa Hirsch and lighting design by Roomet Villau. The review was originally published in the cultural newspaper Sirp.