National Theatre and new ideas in 1920-1940

Objektas: tautinės ideologijos sklaida 1920–1940 metų dramos teatro kritikos tekstuose. Tikslas: aptarti scenos inovacijų skatinamus tautinio teatro sandaros svarstymus. Tyrimo metodas istorinis-aprašomasis. Pagrindinė išvada: radikalios tautinės ideologijos atstovų – teatro kritikų – pastangomis modernius kūrybos principus diktuojančios teatro reformos sklaida Lietuvos teatre buvo pristabdyta. Prasminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos teatro istorija, teatro kritika, nacionalinis teatras, nacionalizmo ideologija.The article discusses some aspects of nationalist ideology, manifest in the Lithuanian theatre criticism in the interwar period. The idea of nationalist theatre comes forward with particular vigour in 1926 with the start of the authoritarian rule of Antanas Smetona. The key elements of a theatre based on nationalist principles such as promoting the national identity on stage, integrating parts of the ethnic culture into the play, and, most importantly, keeping huge reservations towards scenic innovations that are usually adopted from other cultures are discernible in the texts of contemporary theatre critics. Such attitudes dominate texts by Liudas Gira, Vincas Rastenis, Faustas Kirša and others who saw theatre as an extended battlefield for the national individuality. The theatre concept based on the national character grows even stronger during the period of Andrius Oleka-Žilinskas’ and Michailas Čechovas’ working in Kaunas. The innovative work of the directors influenced by the spirit of modern theatre was fiercely criticized. However, such criticism was more often than not informed by resentment of the artists “foreign” descent rather than aesthetic criteria