Internationally acclaimed actor Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė will bring audiences inside the small Vilnius apartment that shaped her life when her new play, ‘A Pebble in the Road’, comes to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026. Funny, vivid and often surprising, the production explores one family’s life unfolding against enormous historical change. On a stage bare but for a solitary chair, Dapkūnaitė guides audiences through the three-room home, accounting for every item of furniture and every architectural detail as she traces the lives of three generations of women shaped by war, displacement, resilience, love and laughter. In the company of her resolute grandmother, her glamorous aunt and reflecting her own childhood under Soviet occupation, Dapkunaite creates an intimate portrait of the women who shaped her life. Seen through a child's eyes, we are drawn into a world where humour, resilience and imagination collide with some of the defining political events of the recent past. Dapkūnaitė says: "I always thought that the apartment where we spent our lives was our home, but I've come to realise that what makes a home is, of course, the people." The play revisits a century of extraordinary change, viewed through the lens of a single family. Here is the grandmother who navigated war and political upheaval with determination and grace; the aunt whose warmth and creativity illuminated family life; and the young Ingeborga herself, growing up during Soviet occupation before joining thousands of fellow Lithuanians on the streets to defend the country's newly won independence. Dapkūnaitė continues: "Amongst the turbulence of world events, the little hook that held Granny's door open turns out to be the most vivid memory." Remembered internationally for her leading role in the Oscar-winning ‘Burnt by the Sun’, Dapkūnaitė has enjoyed a distinguished career spanning more than 100 films and television productions across Europe and beyond. UK audiences may also recognise her as the Russian Ambassador to Norway in Netflix's political thriller ‘Occupied’. Her film credits include ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Seven Years in Tibet ‘, while her achievements have seen her serve on the juries of the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals. Alongside her screen career, Dapkūnaitė has enjoyed an extensive stage career in London, across Europe, the United States and in Russia, and includes a longstanding creative collaboration with actor and director John Malkovich. Edinburgh Festival Fringe and EIF veteran, Simon Stokes, directs. A British theatre director and producer, with substantial international experience, his first Fringe was in 1975. Over a five-decade career he has directed many leading actors including Mark Rylance, Julie Walters, Simon Callow, Celia Imrie and John Malkovich. Reflecting on the themes of the play, Dapkūnaitė references a remark by Salman Rushdie that history is never a settled story, but something continually argued over, questioned and reinterpreted. We call the opportunity to have those arguments, freedom…Through the experiences of one family living through war, occupation and independence, ‘A Pebble in the Road’ explores how those larger debates are experienced by ordinary people.

Description supplied by the event organiser.