Our whole trip was based on meeting people who work in different theatre groups not controlled by the state and on examining contemporary Lithuanian theatre. The amateur theatre movement in Lithuania is very much alive, and very varied. There is a strong difference between groups working in cities and those situated in villages.
The structure of city theatres is more similar to professional ones, more institutionalised. The so-called „barn theatres” perform in a different space, in barns exactly or on markets. And there are also individuals, like Benas Sarka, who just follow their heart and create an image of their own alternative theatre. (NATALIA K.)
Meeting professor Danuta Vaugauskaite from Klaipeda University, the president of Lithuanian Amateur Theatre Association was a very valuable experience. We had the chance to gain knowledge about the structure and history of amateur theatre. The association is very
active in organising festivals and events, and thanks to this, Lithuania is the leading country in the field of amateur theatre. (ANIA)
Plays of those amateur theatres, that we had the chance to meet, are mostly performed by adults. Most of these groups work in culture centers. On Lithuanian amateur stages you can mostly see pieces from the turn of XIXth and XXth century. It’s quite difficult to find a play, which would narrate a story about contemporary Lithuania, and that’s why those who desire to stage contemporary repertoire are constrained to write their own dramas. The only theatre that we’ve met, which both stages children’s plays and has a troupe made of very young actors, is the amateur theatre „Be duru” in Klaipeda. (MONIKA)
Meeting Robertas Antinis, the author of the installation „XXI Amžiaus Katakombos”, localised underground one of the churches in Kaunas (Soboras), was an experience, I will certainly never forget. Stepping into the pitch dark of underground corridors, filled with various obstacles, suddenly makes us blind, not asking us to put ourselves in their situation, but just roughly putting us in it. We can’t look from outside, but are forced to walk down and step into another dimension, where everything makes us see, feel, even think differently. A poignant feeling, that there’s just every man for himself, awakes emotions. It was quite fascinating, that the project was based on many years of Antinis’s work with the blind. This project certainly deserves attention; I have already recommended it to my friend, who studies pedagogic for the blind. (KASIA)
A week is not a long time, but I truly believe we managed to see many faces of contemporary Lithuanian theatre, faces that sometimes seemed completely opposite. Two meetings held on the same day, with two former colleagues Augustinas Sutkus and Benas Šarka were a meaningful example of this variety. Sutkus directs in an amateur, rural theatre and tries to use the energy of Agluonenai’s inhabitants to create interesting comedy. Šarka’s alternative performances, on the other hand, are supposed to comment on the deepest dilemmas of the present time. It’s hard to imagine more different paths, but this opposition seems to shape the face of contemporary Lithuanian theatre. (NATALIA M.)
