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The Politics of Suffering: The National Theatre of Lithuania
| Article
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17098 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1990 |
1,746 Words |
| Author
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Nicholas Rudall
Nicholas Rudall is artistic director of the Court Theatre,
Chicago, and professor of classics at the University of
Chicago. |
It wasn't easy for the National Theatre of Lithuania to come to Chicago to perform in the recent International Theatre Festival. Some thirty actors plus a support staff of twenty had struggled for days to get the requisite visas to present two of their most popular productions at the festival. Arrangements had been made months in advance, but at the last moment all that could be seen were large crates sitting on the empty stage of the Blackstone Theatre. The actors were stranded in Lithuania, and the opening performance as well as the following night had to be cancelled.
The actors finally arrived exhausted, but within twenty-four hours were ready to take their Chicago audience on a theatrical journey brilliant in its conception, overwhelming in its execution.
The National Theatre of Lithuania was founded twenty-five years ago. It has a working company of forty-five actors, some of whom have been there since its inception. Its support staff of technicians, designers, and administrative staff is equally large. Currently they have seventeen plays in their repertoire. What this means is that at any given time they can, and do, produce a different play every night, putting on tried and true comedies or testing the mettle of their audience with complex plays about the politics of suffering. Over recent years the company has achieved a deserved reputation for the creation of a new style of theater. When its existence was a virtual state secret and visitors were rare, those who returned to the West talked of astonishing images and a dazzling verity. Arthur Miller, for example, said that the company performs, "some of the best theater I've seen
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