Kaunas Artists' House Lithuanian art news website
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In brief: Our writers worry that serious literature is read less and less. The worry is grounded of course, but the strange thing is that the ones who express it are the creators of the serious literature. The situation of literature critics is also problematic – constant talks about its crisis and the commercial interest of critics often makes writers ignore the critics targeted at them and criticize the society instead that it is not capable of reading complicated texts any more.
In brief: The exotic culture of Japan is revealed through the abundance of images which breathe with traditions and habits of several thousand years. The usual allegory of Japan is always theatrical – it may appear as geisha with a thirteen-stringed koto in hands; like an actor covered by No mask; o like a samurai with a sword. Meanwhile, the image of Japan of the 21st century is constructed using keywords of contemporary civilisation, such as robot, Sony, jakuza, Toyota or anime. New myths are created, but Japan remains in our conscience as a country of contracts and bright colours.
In brief: Traditionally the majority of theatrical people and spectators of the “serious” theatre look at the puppet theatre from above – different scale, not such deep dramaturgy, not so famous direction. Puppeteers live somewhere in the outskirts of the great theatrical world, and the puppet theatre is considered to be an attraction rather than serious stage art.
