Between nationalism and ideology: Stanislavsky in Lithuania

ISBN ePDF: 978-1-4725-8790-9The chapter deals with the two periods in the dissemination of Stanislavsky's theatre ideas in Lithuania. The first period relates to the development of the Lithuanian National Theatre, during the first Lithuanian independence that stretched between 1920 and 1940. The second period encompasses Soviet times, starting with 1947 and ending in 1989. The objective is to reveal how Stanislavskys theatre ideas spread among a number of Lithuanian directors and actors and what impact they had on their artistic activities. Stanislavsky's system was introduced in Lithuania via his actors and students during the interwar period. They were escaping Soviet Russia in order to find better living and working conditions in the West. Amongst these one finds Andrius Oleka-Žilinskas and Mikhail Chekhov, who were among the most influential individuals for Lithuanian theatre. During the second, Soviet period, Stanislavsky's theatre approach was imposed on all Soviet theatres and countries by the Communist Party. During the first period Stanislavsky's ideas about theatre were considered innovative. They were developed by his students and were seen as open and progressive, whereas in Soviet times his theatre became a tool of Soviet propaganda. Nevertheless, directors like Romualdas Juknevičius and actors like Leonardas Zelčius, Laimonas Noreika, and Birutė Raubaitė, who had finished their studies at GITIS (The Russian University of Theatre Arts) after the Second World War, were able to transmit to Lithuanian actors Stanislavsky's theatre ideas and to maintain a high artistic level of acting and directing. The chapter will show that in both cases the political impact on theatre in Lithuania was of considerable importance and that the political decisions made during both periods were LithuaniaTeatrologijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta