Lithuanian amateur theatre and the national movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Šiame straipsnyje aprašomos politinio, visuomeninio bei kultūrinio XIX a. pabaigos-XX a. pradžios Lietuvos gyvenimo peripetijos, kuriose radosi ir plėtojosi lietuvių mėgėjų teatro sąjūdis, prasidėjęs sodžiuose rengiamais slaptais vakarais, o vėliau tapęs vieša ir legalia Lietuvos didmiesčiuose įsikūrusių kultūrinių draugijų veikla. Remiantis istorinėmis ir kultūrologinėmis XIX a. pabaigos-XX a. pradžios apžvalgomis bei lietuviška ano laiko periodika, mėginama apibūdinti mėgėjiškų vaidinimų reikšmę tuometiniame visuomeniniame kontekste, įvertinti teatrines mėgėjiškos scenos galimybes.The movement of Lithuanian amateur theatre was initiated and determined by the sociocultural situation in Lithuanian at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although the first Lithuanian amateur performances were produced only at the end of the 19th century, when the theatres of the neighbouring Baltic countries already turned to professionalism, they were an important part of the underground movement against the de-nationalization policy carried out by tsarist Russia. Artistically completely impotent, they played a remarkable national-political role. In the beginning at the 20th century, already being part of the legitimate public cultural life occurring mostly in towns, Lithuanian amateur theatre was desperately seeking to grow in professionalism. The production of historical plays (in terms of staging they were more complicated than the previously-staged dramas about the day-to-day life) proved an opportunity for amateur groups to demonstrate their potential. However, it was exactly these productions that showed their total impotence and demonstrated that amateur theatre was not likely to develop into a theatrical phenomenon of high artistic value