“Barricades” on powdery patriotic sand or why there is no Brecht and criticism there 0
In brief: There are no doubts that the attempts of the managers of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre to rally a team of young people ready to interpret events of January of 1991, which are important to the history of Lithuania and which have not yet been articulated in theatre, in an original manner is an important step on the Lithuanian stage. The author of the article joins the ones congratulating the creators of the performance who dared to touch this sensitive theme. Still, the article was provoked not by the performance itself but by the attempts of young theatre critics to reflect the meanings of the performance by presenting a timely look and professional evaluation.
The author notices that it is likely that the creators of the performance have not yet found their relation with the recent past of the country; therefore, attempts to analyse it end with emotional persuasion or more or less clear sentiments. One thing does not cause doubts in the performance “Barricades” – it is the clearly demonstrated attitude to the Soviet propaganda.
The author also found the improvised episode of the Baltic Road, which invited the audience to take hands of each other and feel “the spirit of the nation that respects itself”, to be a successful provocation that invited to rethink and check one’s relation with the elevated patriotism of that time. Today, when the world is becoming more and more restless, the review of one’s patriotic feelings may be really useful. The author asks as a real patriot who has passed the test: Are you for Lithuania?
