The New Theatre of the Baltics: from Soviet to Western Influence in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (review)

Jeff Johnson has written a fascinating, eminently readable account of the post-Soviet theatre in the recently independent Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Relying on personal experience of the theatre as well as interviews with practitioners in each country, Johnson presents an insightful cultural history of the region that examines the aesthetics of new work and documents how theatres in these countries have confronted and adapted to the new open societies "invaded" by Western materialism, media, and economic chaos.

This book is a mélange of information (with useful production photographs) surveying Baltic theatre since 1989, when these three nations became independent states. After a general introduction, the author devotes a chapter to each nation. Citing critics and directors for whom national identity is of paramount importance, Johnson explores their notions that the various roots of their national theatre—pagan rituals, peasant customs, Germanic or Scandinavian culture, Protestant sermonizing, Catholic rituals—determine whether it is director-, actor-, or text-driven. He thus distinguishes the methodologies, missions, and styles of each country, as the chapter titles indicate: "Lithuania: Catholic Spectacle—Director's Theatre," "Estonia: The Lutheran Narrative—Writer's Theatre," and "Latvia: Focus on Process—Actor's Theatre."

Johnson demythologizes the sometimes-understandable nostalgia for a time when theatre was the only place for legal gathering and discussion. He sympathetically records the many dilemmas facing contemporary Baltic artists who must decide whether to retain or reject older theatre styles associated with the Soviet era. Their dilemmas include which mentors to emulate (Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Grotowski, or Peter Brook, among others) and what kind of company model to follow (repertory or project-based). Other legacies of the Soviet era also affect theatre production and economics, as when, for example, companies must decide whether to cultivate an older generation of theatre-goers accustomed to a theatre of metaphorical resistance to communist censors in a "coded Aesopian parable" (14), or cultivate a younger generation soaked in the raucousness of Western popular culture and ambitions. Financially, companies face difficulties in the transition from a state-sponsored system to a more freewheeling economy. As well, indigenous language and culture now play important roles in the themes and styles of each country's theatre movement, according to the artists, resulting in a tense struggle between being "local" or "global," which facilitates touring and translation.

Johnson addresses the stylistic variety of young theatre directors and critics in each country as they wrestle with the aesthetics of their work. An emerging group of writers, particularly in Estonia, are trying, like their colleagues elsewhere in Eastern Europe, to address social issues and problems onstage, using multimedia and contemporary popular music to attract younger audiences. Johnson, very much amused, recounts how one young director rejects what she perceives as "New York City realism"—the well-made play full of self-involved talkers.

Johnson admits that he does not speak the languages of the Baltic nations, but given the introductory nature of this book, this is less of a detriment than it might seem. He is frank and refreshing in his critiques of productions as far as he understands them. He provides in-depth dramaturgical descriptions and reliable synopses of plays he has read in translation, and he is especially lucid when describing performances that rely mostly on visual and/or physical presentation, such as Alvis Hermanis's Ice (Latvia), Marius Ivaskkevicius's Close City (Lithuania), or Andrus Kivirakh's The Estonian Funeral (Estonia).

There are a few gaps in the book. The author touches only lightly on issues of anti-Semitism, specifically the case of the charismatic though difficult Latvian director Adolfs Sapiro. He does not emphasize strongly enough (though to be fair, neither do most of the directors) the public collective historical amnesia about Nazi oppression and atrocities, Soviet mass deportations, imprisonment, language bans, and economic difficulty, except in the context of a general disillusionment with...