April

In brief: A joyful event – ‘Soiree of Scoffers’ – was held at Kaunas Artists House on April Fool’s Day.

The Scoffers Club celebrated the 40th Anniversary last year. Artists-caricaturists and writers-humourists have always flocked round it. Kaunas used to host guests from Lithuania and former Soviet Union: Moscow, Leningrad (now Sankt Petersburg), Novorossiysk, Kyiv, Alma Ata. The humourists were accompanied by famous actors – Vytautas Eidukaitis, Regina Varnaitė, Antanas Žekas, Algirdas Pintukas, Algirdas Sabalys, Jonas Čepaitis – and voices of Kaunas Musical Theatre – Algirdas Jacunskas, Juozas Malikonis. Later, after re-establishing the statehood, society paid less attention to the Scoffers.

Today the artist Vladimiras Beresniovas aka Vlaber is the leader of the Scoffers Club. The artist states that the level of Lithuanian caricature is rather good. Nine authors participated in the exhibition held at Kaunas Artists House but only V. Beresniovas and Edmundas Unguraitis attended the private view. The reason is rather simple: the caricaturists celebrated April Fools’ Day for three days – in Marijampolė, Vilnius and Kaunas; many of them were ‘laid by barmy beer’.

The pianist Šviesė Čepliauskaitė was the first to enter the stage and to share her light and rapid memories about Andalusia.

Grannies from the pre-war period paid a visit to Kaunas Artists House (actors of Kaunas State Puppet Theatre Andrius Žiurauskas and Remigijus Endriukaitis).

The chair of Lithuanian Writers Union Kaunas Department Vidmantas Kiaušas-Elmiškis and his assistant Ugnė Katkevičiūtė congratulated the satirist Rimantas Petras Von Klusas. The poet and author of twelve books has been trampling the grass for seventy-five years already. He accepted pies baked for him exclusively and flowers, followed by ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.

The journalist Petras Žemkauskas chose discounts for sugar and oranges and was left with salt and bricks in his humoresque... Then Š. Čepliauskaitė made the light Butterbrot of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which was accepted by audience as an amusing sandwich. The viewers were set off laughing by scruffy thoughts of Evaldas Raseinis. Some impulsive citizen ran amuck across the corridor and later frisked on a chair of the Artists House. The satirist Jurgis Gimberis made a horoscope for the week: its stars rotated because of a hangover. The satirist Aleksas Dabulskis read some lyrical, doleful, even wicked poetry. 

In the evening one could meet citizens in the town smiling suspiciously, or giggling sotto voce.

Photographs of Zenonas Baltrušis