{"id":297,"date":"2021-05-05T20:48:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T20:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/?p=297"},"modified":"2021-11-21T21:04:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T21:04:53","slug":"contemporary-latvian-theatre-a-decade-bookazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/contemporary-latvian-theatre-a-decade-bookazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemporary Latvian Theatre, A Decade Bookazine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Edited by Lauma Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da<\/strong>
207 pp. Latvian Theatre Labour Association<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviewed by Matti Linnavuori<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems only a moment ago that Guna Zelti\u0146a edited Theatre in Latvia<\/em> (2012), and suddenly we have a new edition, Contemporary Latvian Theatre <\/em>(2020), edited by Lauma Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da. Has theatre in Latvia really taken such giant leaps to necessitate yet another book? Does the interpretation of a country\u2019s theatre change so completely in eight years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly what has changed are the contributors. All the new volume\u2019s writers (save for Inta Balode, the dance correspondent) are new. Another generation has clearly taken over, though Zelti\u0146a herself remaining a member of the all-female, all-PhD editorial board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelti\u0146a\u2019s earlier book began with a general introductory essay and went on to detail the history of each professional company in the country. Not an impossible task, since they number less than ten. Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da\u2019s new book, on the other hand, follows not companies but themes\u2014the education of actors, digital sets, new directors, site-specific performances, devised productions and the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gives the same productions several mentions in different texts, but it also means that there is no in-depth discussion of any particular production (nor particular directors nor playwrights). This requires the reader to be satisfied with morsels through the book rather than being offered a full meal featuring any specific production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted here that the centenary of the Latvian state coincides with this new volume\u2019s timeframe, always a good moment for national introspection especially in small countries. The current volume, however, only focuses on the 2010s probably because the earlier Zelti\u0146a volume already covered much historical material. But that means there is also a lack of context in the new volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during the Soviet occupation of Latvia between the Second World War and 1990 that the national theatres took on the task of preserving national cultural identity and the Latvian language. In this regard, Zane Radzobe\u2019s essay argues that in the 2010s Alvis Hermanis with his New Riga Theatre changed the way theatre looked at national history: citizenship became not ethnic but political and came to exclude any unified point of view. In Valters S\u012blis’s production about Latvians fighting in different armies during the war, for instance, the actors encouraged comments from the auditorium, and when faced with ideas which contradicted the factual course of events, they would counter with \u201cso you want to change history?\u201d According to Radzobe, the country\u2019s understanding of historical meaning has been constantly evolving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One real merit of Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da\u2019s book is its well-deserved reappraisal of Alvis Hermanis\u2019 work. Hermanis is the best-known director to emerge from Latvia. When I last visited the annual showcase of Latvian theatre in 2017, it seemed that Latvians had grown slightly weary of Hermanis\u2019 mighty shadow (Latvian Directors Set Course for Beauty<\/a> \u2013 Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> (critical-stages.org)). Hermanis gets the last word here in an interview with the editor. He says, for example, of the use of video in theatre that, in future, it will be considered tasteless, and that spectators will visit the theatre like they visit the zoo: to watch \u201clive real human beings.\u201d Just 130 pages earlier, there seemed some slight embarrassment because Latvian directors were not employing video as much as, say, their Lithuanians neighbours did. One could suggest that this new book shows the process of learning its own history lesson by refusing to enforce any unified point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of neighbours, the book has also included essays from each of Latvia\u2019s fellow Baltic countries. The Lithuanian Edgaras Klivis offers a fresh view on the national classics of the centenary celebrations, and the Estonian Meelis Oidsalu suggests\u2014impossible to say how seriously\u2014that theatrical dramatizations offer a handy way of getting to know literary masterpieces since no one has the time to actually read them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inviting foreign contributors certainly indicates that the days of nagging national self-doubt are themselves history. For anyone wishing a look from even further outside, there is also Jeff Johnson\u2019s 2007 volume New Theatre of the Baltics <\/em>which covers all three Baltic countries and which says it is following a progress \u201cfrom Soviet to Western influence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western influence is, of course, a prime virtue particularly from a Western point of view. A truly independent nation might not want to publish its national achievements in English, Soviet Russian, or indeed in any foreign language. In addition, there is the question of identity politics\u2014whose story gets heard on national stages and who may portray it? In this area, the new book lags behind in such things as coverage of LGBTQ issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another concern here\u2014photo captions throughout are not contextualized with most offering little real informational value. They seem more to be just colourful spots in the layout, like choreographers who are used as directorial illustrators, a point made by the six female choreographers interviewed here. That said, six of the seven directors interviewed in the volume are men. One might note as well that the volume lacks a full index of names and play titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these are minor quarrels. The new volume does end up as a useful mix of interviews, learned articles and personal essays even though some seem like near-confessions. All thirteen writers certainly display their individual styles though none too outlandishly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me end by saying that I would have liked to have seen one more essay in the volume\u2014Lauma Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da\u2019s own 2019 essay for Critical Stages\u2014<\/em>\u201cLatvian Theatre Today: Winds of Change<\/a>\u201d which clearly outlined the economic situation of Latvian theatre during this period. It would have been a valuable addition. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*<\/a>Matti Linnavuori <\/strong>edits the Performance Reviews section for Critical Stages<\/em>. He wrote theatre criticism between 1978 and 2013 for various newspapers and weeklies in his native Finland. In 1985, he worked for the BBC World Service in London. Since 1998, he has presented papers at numerous IATC events. In the 2000s, he wrote for Teatra Vestnesis<\/em> in Latvia. Since 1993, he has written and directed several radio plays for YLE the Finnish Broadcasting Company. His latest stage play Ta mig till er ledare<\/em> (Take me to your leader<\/em>, 2016) played at the Lilla Teatern in Helsinki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2021 Matti Linnavuori
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/creating-in-between-times-and-identities-expressions-of-contemporary-theatre-in-guatemala\/","url_meta":{"origin":297,"position":0},"title":"Creating In-between Times and Identities: Expressions of Contemporary Theatre in Guatemala","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Regina Solis Miranda* and Luis Antonio Morales Rodr\u00edguez** Abstract Theatricality in contemporary Guatemala has its own poetics shaped by a tense interaction of multiple identities in a context defined by enforced colonial logic. 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With their tribunal theatre performances Voice of Nature: The Trial (2019) and The Shell Trial (2020), the artists strive to reconfigure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Special Topic"","block_context":{"text":"Special Topic","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/special-topic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image5-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image5-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image5-2.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/06\/image5-2.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":340,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/tadashi-suzukis-globally-local-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":297,"position":3},"title":"Tadashi Suzuki\u2019s Globally Local Theatre","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Savas Patsalidis* The basis for theatre craft is the work of the feet . . . (Tadashi Suzuki \u201cThe\u00a0Grammar of Feet,\u201d The Way of Acting) Critical Stages\/Scenes critiques pays tribute to one of the greats of world theatre, the latest IATC Thalia Prize winner: Tadashi Suzuki, the Japanese director and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thalia Prize"","block_context":{"text":"Thalia Prize","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/thalia-prize\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/sp_image02.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/sp_image02.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/sp_image02.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":129,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/interviews-with-jorge-vargas-and-cabino-rodriguez\/","url_meta":{"origin":297,"position":4},"title":"Mexican avant-garde: Interviews with Jorge Vargas and Gabino Rodriguez","author":"Matti Linnavuori","date":"May 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Capra* Mexican theatre\u2014its avant-garde\u2014is vaguely associated in the anglophone mind with documentary theatre. In 2019, I had the pleasure of interviewing two of the leading directors in Mexico City. I learned that Mexican theatre is\u2014 not surprisingly\u2014a good deal more complex than that. 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