John Misto MADAME RUBINSTEIN dir. Raimundas Banionis

John Misto – Madame Rubinstein Performance in Lithuanian. Two-part comic drama. Duration – 2 hrs 30 min. Premiere – 9 May 2026. Director – Raimundas Banionis; Set Designer – Sergejus Bocullo; Costume Designer – Daiva Petrulytė; Composer – Faustas Latėnas. Cast: Helena Rubinstein – Inga Maškarina; Elizabeth Arden – Edita Gončarova / Aleksandra Metalnikova; Patrick O'Higgins – Aleksandr Kanajev / Valentinas Krulikovskis. In this production by director Raimundas Banionis, based on the comedy by Australian playwright John Misto, we go behind the scenes of mid-twentieth-century America's beauty industry. The central figure is the formidable historical cosmetics mogul Helena Rubinstein (1872–1965). The play is set in 1954–1965, the last decade of Rubinstein's life. It opens with an intriguing encounter: the elderly Madame Rubinstein meets an Irishman, Patrick, who becomes her secretary, closest confidant and friend. The production reveals the fates of two business rivals – Helena Rubinstein and Elisabeth Arden – who sacrificed family and personal happiness for their careers. It is ultimately a play about human loneliness: she was painted by Picasso and Dalí, yet at the end of a long life only her disabled assistant Patrick remained by her side. John Misto (b. 1952) – Australian playwright and screenwriter. Winner of the Australian Writers' Guild and Australian Film Institute awards. Raimundas Banionis (b. 1957) – film, TV and theatre director, known for theatricality, vivid characters and classical comedy productions. Photo: Telman Ragimov

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