ABSTRACT From “rooted out” to “rootless”: Images of Emigration in Lithuanian Drama Since the early 1990s, when the Iron Curtain was lifted after over !fty years of Soviet occupation, approximately 800 000 citizens of Lithuania have emigrated, leaving a population of less than three million. "is article addresses the phe- nomenon of emigration from Lithuania and analyzes how the issue of emigration and the experiences of the emigrants are re#ected in Lithuanian drama. In the !rst part of the article, two plays – Without Conscience (Be sumnenės arba kaip ant svieto einasi) by Antanas Turskis and America in the Bathhouse (Amerika pirtyje) by Keturakis – will be analysed focusing on how the late nineteenth century plays shaped a critical attitude towards emigration, deconstructed the myth of the foreign land of gold and proposed a romantic image of the motherland as one’s native soil where one needs to return. "e second part of the article analyses the plays Goodbye, My Love (Antoškos Kartoškos) by Marius Macevičius and Expulsion (Išvarymas) by Marius Ivaškevičius and points out how re#ection on the contem- porary experience of emigration helps to explore deeper problems of post-Soviet society and the individual such as a sense of placelessness and fragmented identi- ty. A comparative analysis of these texts makes it possible to analyse the dynamics of the di&erent conceptions of emigration, emigrant’s identity and self-perception as well as their artistic representations.

Keywords: Lithuanian drama, migration, emigration, post-Soviet identity, frag- mented identity, images of emigration.

BIOGRAPHY Rūta Mažeikienė, Ph.D., is associate professor and researcher at the "eatre Studies department at Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania). She has published numerous scienti!c and critical articles on contemporary Lithuani- an theatre and drama and has given presentations at a number of national and international theatre conferences. Her academic experience includes researching contemporary Lithuanian theatre, focusing on di&erent forms of acting and performing as well as strategies of participation and community involvement in contemporary theatre. [email protected]

66 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 From “rooted out” to “rootless” Images of Emigration in Lithuanian Drama

RŪTA MAŽEIKIENĖ

Since the early 1990s when the Iron Curtain was eth century amounted to 600,000 to 700,000 peo- lifted after over !fty years of Soviet occupation, ple. Although the !rst wave of emigrants included approximately 800,000 citizens of Lithuania have some representatives of the intelligentsia and some emigrated, leaving a population of less than three priests or fugitives of the Czarist army, the majority million.1 "e high level of mass emigration from were underprivileged and poorly educated peasants Lithuania has not only turned into a dominant issue and workers, the so-called Grynoriai (Greenhorns or in the public sphere and political discourse but has new, inexperienced).6 "e second wave of emigra- also gradually entered the artistic !eld. A growing tion sprang up as forced emigration after World War number of contemporary Lithuanian artists have II when the Republic of Lithuania was re-occupied addressed the issue of (e)migration, using artistic by the Soviet Union, with people trying to escape forms to raise questions about the causes and out- the very real threat of Soviet persecutions (the repre- comes of this social problem, exploring the e&ects of sentatives of intelligentsia, politicians, artists, scien- (e)migration on ordinary life in Lithuania and rep- tists), leaving the country on a massive scale. "ere resenting the complex experiences of contemporary were more than 60,000 such Dipukai (Displaced emigrants. "e purpose of this article is to discuss persons, or emigrants located in the Displaced Per- the phenomenon of emigration from Lithuania and sons Camps of WW II and after in the Western part to analyze how the issue of emigration and the expe- of Germany), who, for some time, still cherished the riences of the emigrants are re#ected in Lithuanian belief that their emigration was temporary and that drama. they would soon be going back.7 "e third (contem- In fact, since the late nineteenth century, that porary) wave of emigration started in the !nal years is since “the age of transatlantic mass migration”2, of perestroika, and increased after the reestablish- Lithuania has provided the world with the highest ment of independence in Lithuania in 1990, and numbers of emigrants from Eastern Europe (in pro- further expanded after Lithuania’s entry into the portion to its population).3 "is indicates that, as European Union in 2004 and joining the Schen- emigration researchers suggest, contemporary Lith- gen Area in 2007. Due to the fact that these people uanian emigration should not be treated as some emigrated from the former Soviet country, earlier “uniquely post-Soviet behavior”4 or exclusively emigrants (Grynoriai and Dipukai) recognized them contemporary phenomenon. "e scienti!c literary as Tarybukai (Little Soviets or being marked by the resources on the issue of emigration generally recog- Soviet Regime).8 Although there have been three nize three major waves of Lithuanian emigration.5 major waves of Lithuanian emigration since the late "e !rst wave of emigration from Lithuania (which nineteenth century to this day, this article focuses was by then a part of the Czarist Russian Empire) on the !rst and the third waves only as both of them from the late nineteenth century and early twenti- are considered voluntary and economically based.

Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 67 "e second wave of emigration that took place right soil where one needs to return. "e second part of after World War II was forced due to the political the article analyses the plays Goodbye, My Love (An- situation and its re#ection on stage is deliberately toškos Kartoškos) by Marius Macevičius and Expul- left out of the reach of this essay. sion (Išvarymas) by Marius Ivaškevičius and points Although, according to Paul White, who has re- out how the re#ection on the contemporary experi- searched the links between literature and migration, ence of emigration helps to explore deeper problems “the theme of migration per se is extremely common of post-Soviet society and the individual, such as a in writing produced over the last century”9, re#ec- sense of placelessness and fragmented identity. A tions on this social problem on the twentieth-cen- comparative analysis of those texts makes it possible tury Lithuanian theatre stage are scarce. It is not to analyse the dynamics of the di&erent conceptions that the issue of emigration was totally avoided by of emigration, the emigrant’s identity and self-per- Lithuanian theatre artists and playwrights. "e au- ception as well as their artistic representations. thors of the !rst plays on the issue of emigration (e.g. Antanas Turskis and Keturakis10) re#ected the importance of mass economic emigration by Lith- EXPERIENCES OF GRYNORIAI (GREENHORNS) IN uanians in the late nineteenth century. Subsequent- THE FIRST LITHUANIAN PLAYS ly, in the second half of the twentieth century the "e !rst appearance of plays touching on the topic painful experiences of forced political emigration of emigration is noticeable in the late nineteenth were convincingly depicted by such playwrights of century together with the !rst wave of Grynoriai Lithuanian exile as Antanas Škėma and Kostas Os- (Greenhorns), whose main aim was to earn money trauskas. At the same time, the playwrights of Soviet abroad (mostly in the USA) and return home or Lithuania (e.g. Albertas Laurinčiukas), who wrote support their own families’ journey to the foreign under the in#uence of Soviet ideology, formed a country. Most of the emigrants of this period stayed negative and ideological attitude towards emigra- in the USA, where they would cling together, form tion and emigrants. In the late twentieth and early Lithuanian parishes, friendly societies, found var- twenty-!rst centuries, as a result of the most numer- ious organizations, publish newspapers and try to ous wave of emigration ever, the issue entered Lith- preserve the Lithuanian language and ethnic tradi- uanian dramaturgy once again. Although the artis- tions. tic representations of emigration have been quite As a matter of fact, two stagings of the plays on well re#ected by literary critics, the similar issue in emigration written at the time are included now as drama has remained almost unexplored. "is article being among the most signi!cant events in Lithu- focuses on the drama texts of the late nineteenth – anian theatre history. "e play by Antanas Turskis, early twentieth centuries and late twentieth – early Without Conscience (Be sumnenės arba kaip ant svieto twenty-!rst centuries, and raises the question how einasi), performed by the Lithuanian theatre soci- the subjects, narratives and images of emigration ety in Plymouth, USA in 1889, is considered to have changed from the very !rst re#ection on this be the !rst theater production performed in Lith- social issue in early Lithuanian plays to the most uanian and marks the beginning of the theatre of recent re#ections of emigration in contemporary American Lithuanians. Moreover, the production of Lithuanian drama. Keturakis’ comedy America in the Bathhouse (Amer- In the !rst part of the article two plays – With- ika pirtyje), performed in the town of Palanga in out Conscience (Be sumnenės arba kaip ant svieto ein- 1899 while the prohibition of Lithuanian print was asi) by Antanas Turskis and America in the Bathhouse still in force, was not only the !rst public Lithua- (Amerika pirtyje) by Keturakis – are analysed focus- nian language performance on Lithuanian territory ing on how the late nineteenth century plays shaped but also an important event for the whole move- a critical attitude towards emigration, deconstruct- ment of national revival. ed the myth of the foreign land of gold and proposed Both Antanas Turskis and Keturakis analyze the a romantic image of the motherland as one’s native issue that was very relevant at that time, namely em-

68 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 igration to the USA. "eir texts not only re#ected tive story” had no “extra literary or theatrical value”. the climate and the sentiments of the general public However, “it was familiar and understandable to the looking for possibilities to emigrate (such as mis- uneducated American Lithuanians and based on fortune, disappointment in the current situation in contemporary painful emigrant reality”.16 So, even their homeland and great expectations about life in if the Lithuanian theatre society in Plymouth ceased the USA), but they also tried to subvert the myth to exist shortly afterwards and the production was of America as a golden land. It is important to note never performed again, and Turskis’ play was staged that at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning “only a few more times here and there in Ameri- of the twentieth century there was a huge anti-em- ca”,17 this text has left deep traces in the memories of igration campaign, carried out by the leaders of the the American Lithuanian diaspora, reminding them national rebirth of Lithuania (such as Jonas Basan- of “their own journey to the USA, the things they avičius, Vincas Kudirka or Juozas Tumas-Vaižgan- went through in the foreign land and their unfading tas), members of the !rst Lithuanian political par- hope to return home”.18 ties, intellectuals and other distinguished people of In contrast to the play by Turskis, which was nei- the time. As the historian Daiva Dapkutė points out ther published nor performed in Lithuania (proba- in her article “Overview of the Emigration Processes bly due to its low literary value), the Keturakis play of Lithuanians”, “the Lithuanian press urged Lithu- America in the Bathhouse19 is not only considered anians to remain in their homeland and not leave to be among the most successful premieres of early for the United States. Emigrés were urged to return Lithuanian drama,20 but also remains to be one of to Lithuania with their savings. […] Priests were the most popular comedies of all time. "e story of encouraged to talk people out of emigration during the play is simple, but well-composed. It is centered their confessions. […] Lithuanian political groups, around a true-to-life development: a smart village especially the Catholic stream, published literature tailor Vincas, dreaming of emigration, cheats the that urged readers not to emigrate and warned them ruined and debt-laden farmer Bekampis and his about the weary journeys, the di+culties and poten- light-headed daughter Agota, and the thrifty farmer tial misfortunes.”11 In this respect the play Without Antanas who is looking for a wife. After persuading Conscience written by Antanas Turskis, an emigrant Antanas to lend Bekampis (his assumed father-in- himself and an editor of the American Lithuanian law) a few thousand rubles, Vincas seduces Agota newspaper Vienybė lietuvininkų (Lithuanian Unity), with the promise of taking her to America. He then can be considered a very important contribution to talks her into stealing the money her father has just the anti-emigration movement. borrowed and orders her to wait in the bathhouse "e play Without Conscience tells about for him to come back with the horses while he takes “Jokūbas, a loser who has drunk all his possessions the money and #ees. in Lithuania and come to America looking for a new Keturakis’ play America in the Bathhouse is life but going down even further there”.12 However, based on a rather typical occurrence of deception the three act play, based on the “true life story of from those times (often described in detail in the one Lithuanian”13 has a happy ending: “brought Lithuanian newspapers published abroad21). It is back by friends to his native village, Jokūbas stops worth pointing out that at the end of the nineteenth drinking, gets some money from his son-in-law and century and the beginning of the twentieth centu- redeems his farm”.14 According to the theatre his- ry, emigration was o+cially prohibited by Czarist torian Bronius Vaškelis, over four hundred specta- Russia. As Lithuania was part of the Czarist Russian tors of this performance, most of whom were the Empire at that time, only very few Lithuanians were hard working Grynoriai from the coal mines around able to emigrate legally, while illegal emigration was Plymouth, PA, easily recognized the stage produc- a very widespread occurrence. As historians of emi- tion as a representation of their own di+cult life gration note, “the conditions for emigrating secret- experience.15 As theatre historian Vytautas Maknys ly were especially favorable: a far-#ung network of noted, this comedy “with a relevant and performa- agents (constituting a pro!table business) was well

Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 69 developed. People were encouraged and then organ- ical and new, Lithuanians are players in the perpet- ized to cross the border for carriage to the United ual history of migration of peoples. Everything that States and other countries”.22 It goes without say- concerns the global mobility of nations also con- ing that in such a context, many elaborate America cerns us, Lithuanians.”26 Furthermore, we should in the Bathhouse-style deceptions were planned and also consider a point of view that is gaining popular- implemented by shrewd men. ity under the in#uence of the idea of transnational- Written in a rich, lively realistic style, Keturakis’ ism, that migrants of today are really transmigrants, comedy became an extremely popular play in those or in other words migrants that do not cut the con- times: by World War I, it had been performed over nection with their homeland but rather make their 100 times, had been published in several new edi- native country and their present society of residence tions and had been translated into Russian and Be- into one stage of social action.27 From this perspec- lorussian. Moreover, it has also become a classical tive, the mass emigration of Lithuanians can be seen Lithuanian play, often performed in local theatres as a positive challenge to rethink the meaning of (and some productions of the play have remained in diaspora and to develop the idea of “global Lithu- the repertoire for decades23). "e historian of Lith- ania”. According to Dalia Venslovaitė, the director uanian emigration Egidijus Aleksandravičius points of the social network Global Lithuanian Leaders, out that this comedy by Keturakis was not only the which seeks to unite leading Lithuanian profession- best re#ection of the world view of Lithuanians of als (e.g. executives, entrepreneurs, current and fu- the $n de siècle but it also “took a solid place in the ture leaders in their professional !eld and “people canon of Lithuanian literature” and “with its image- with an a+nity for Lithuania who are outstanding ry in#uenced the self-awareness of Lithuanians for in their !eld”28): “We see the process of migration as generations”.24 a two-way street. "at is not a merely negative mat- Like Turskis’ and Keturakis’ plays, other Lithu- ter. We want to highlight also the useful backwards anian dramatic texts of the late nineteenth century, tra+c. We do not appreciate the very word emigra- dealing with the emigration experiences of Grynori- tion, as it does not re#ect the real developments on ai, are charged with didactics, moral guidance and the global scale, called ‘brain circulation’. "e peo- direct criticism of emigration. It was exactly what ple, leaving for other countries, are growing in inter- the Lithuanian theatre practice of the time, inspired national experience, which is positive. Especially if by the ideas of national revival, needed most: plays by using contemporary media communications this that would be close to ordinary people, relevant and experience can be shared among fellow-countrymen truthful, and that would encourage national con- all over the world.”29 Such an attitude towards em- sciousness and patriotism. But how are the issues of igration re#ects the positive view expressed in the emigration re#ected in the plays of today’s writers? latest research on migration, proposing that, as the What dramatic narratives are inspired by the experi- political and economic borders between the states ences of the third wave of emigration and the expe- are dissolving, the new technologies of transport riences of Tarybukai (Little Soviets)? and communication are increasing and turning the world into a “Global Village”. "us, the “delocaliza- tion” of the nation should be taken not as an anx- NARRATIVES OF TARYBUKAI (LITTLE SOVIETS) IN ious time of national extinction but rather as a pos- CONTEMPORARY DRAMA sibility and a new stage in the nation’s evolution.30 Considering that we live in times that sociologists However, when it comes to the trend in emi- have called “"e Age of Migration“25 and that are so gration in recent years, Lithuanians do not show visibly shaped by the march of globalization, Lith- any of that optimism. Even acknowledging the uanian emigration seems to be but a natural part inevitability of migration as part of globalization, of that global migration course. As Aleksandravičius researchers from di&erent areas point out the mas- puts it: “along with numerous other nations, both sive extent of Lithuanian emigration. "e very fact big and small, notable and almost forgotten, histor- that in a period of approximately twenty years about

70 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 twenty percent of the Lithuanian population have Lithuanian, English and Russian. left the country, led Lithuanian public and politi- "e play Goodbye, My Love deals with a simple cal !gures to declare emigration to be the “ultimate and almost typical story of the times, involving an non-military threat to Lithuania”31 and the public emigrant Birutė who has just returned for a short at large to see emigration as “evacuation”32. So, both time from England. Seduced by her Turkish lover, the politicians and the general public in Lithuania she is ready to sell her house on the seaside that also tend to think of the unrelenting wave of emigration belongs to her son Antanas so that her lover can not as a free individual choice or an unavoidable invest the money into some ‘business’, which is an result of globalization, but rather as a direct out- obvious deception. At !rst sight, the story as well as come of the wrong political decisions. "e historian the style of the play does not really di&er from the Daiva Dapkutė notes that “the word ‘emigration’ is plays about the experiences of Grynoriai at the end constantly used in a negative manner, as in ‘a dying of nineteenth century: the same witty form used to Lithuania’, ‘an extent of emigration that is startling convey a familiar situation, pointing out the nega- Europe’, ‘an irretrievable loss to Lithuania’, ‘the dan- tive sides of emigration. On a closer look, however, ger of national extinction’, and other similar phrases it turns out that the play by Macevičius is not only that the news media emphasize nearly every day.”33 about emigration. "is “documentary theatre”, to Among the people, the belief prevails that emi- use the term of the author himself, also reveals the grants are “foot voting” (meaning, that by leaving negative experiences of the characters’ (as well as the the country they express their opinion on Lithuani- theatre publics’) life under Soviet rule. an politics) and that emigration itself is a “survival "e prologue presents a short family scene in- strategy”34. Public representatives and intellectuals forming the reader about the events before the in the meantime insist that emigration is “one of central story line starts to unfold. It takes place in the most painful wounds of the Lithuanian state” the Soviet years (“!fteen to twenty years ago”37) and point out that the “extremely high numbers of in the house of Olga (Baba), Birutė’s mother and individuals leaving their home country is a testimo- Antanas’ grandma. On a late evening, Birutė with ny of the moral bankruptcy of the state, pushing all her belongings in a suitcase and Antanas who it further into an awkward social situation”.35 Just is appearently sick knock on Olga’s door. Although as the issue of emigration has been prevalent in the Birutė’s marriage has just broken down, she does public space and political discourse in the past ten not get any motherly help or compassion that one years, it has also penetrated into the artistic !eld and might expect. Olga does not only bitterly scold her theatre in particular. daughter in Russian but also refuses to let Birutė "e play Goodbye, My Love (Antoškos Kar- and Antanas into her house. Olga: ”You have your toškos)36 by the novice playwright Marius Mace- own home, so stay there! […] Take your things, vičius, that had its !rst reading in the Panorama of your child and march right back there. You have a Contemporary Lithuanian Drama (Lietuvos dramos place to live, so live there. And if you don’t know panorama) in 2006, is considered to be the !rst how to live – then don’t live at all.”38 Only after among contemporary plays to touch upon the issue Birutė threatens to kill herself and Antanas cries out of new Lithuanian emigration. Created on the basis in terror, does the ‘grandma’ (baba) agree to shelter of autobiographical material, Macevičius’ play was them for one night and immediately starts making acknowledged by the spectators to be the most calls to get them a place in a dormitory. wanted and relevant. Consequently it was at once Although the further development takes place included into the repertoire of Kaunas Drama "e- in our day (“today”) and is not related to the Soviet atre. "e same year the play was acknowledged to be past, the prologue of the play is centered around the the best debut in drama at the National Festival of grotesque representations of typical experiences of Dramaturgy Versmė (Source), in 2008 it was staged contemporary emigrants. "e prologue of the play at the Southwark Playhouse in London (directed straightforwardly suggests that the reasons for the by Simon Usher), and in 2009 it was published in mass emigration of Tarybukai are not only related to

Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 71 the post-Soviet economical situation but also (and push them out into the world”.41 even more so) to the Soviet system and its negative A similar trend in the re#ections on contempo- e&ect on human relations. As the director of the rary emigration can be traced in the play of the most play Ramunė Kudzmanaitė has rightly pointed out, interesting (according to theatre and drama critics) “the drama re#ects our Soviet experience”, the ex- playwright in Lithuania today – Marius Ivaškevičius perience, in other words, that “arguably constitutes Expulsion (Išvarymas).42 "e play was staged in 2011 one of the reasons why life in Lithuania now seems in the Lithuanian National "eatre by the famous so unattractive and evokes a wish to run away”.39 Lithuanian director Oskaras Koršunovas. De!ned According to the artist, the play also raises issues of by the critics as an “epic of mass emigration”43 it emigration which are not directly presented in the tells the story of three young emigrants – an ex cop, text. For example, “why more and more often the in!ltrated into the gang Benas Ivanovas, a gang aged single parent or the children are left with the “torpedo” Vandalas and a beginner photographer relatives while their parents [or children] are work- Egle – during the twelve years that they have spent ing abroad? What is happening to my homeland? in London. Based on the real stories of emigrants Why do an increasing number of people feel that in London that he collected, Ivaškevičius shapes a nobody needs them?”40 grotesque “collective portrait of Lithuania in emi- Macevičius’ text suggests that the Soviet past gration”44 and shows desperate attempts by the em- has conditioned irretrievable deformations of both igrants to !nd their place in an alien society and personal relationships among people and the per- culture. "e characters of Expulsion do not dream ception of home and Fatherland and that those of going back to their homeland. In fact, they don’t deformations not only make people emigrate but even speak about it (except for Vandalas, who, being also restrain the emigrants from coming back home. a typical Lithuanian emigrant, practices self-decep- While Jokūbas and other Grynoriai of Turskis’s play tion and tells stories of how he is building a house eventually return home to their villages and fam- in Lithuania). On the deeper, non-narrative level ilies, Birutė (and other Tarybukai) represented by of the play Ivaškevičius refers not so much to emi- Macevičius have nowhere to return to: as the play gration, but rather to the attempts of the characters reveals their particular track of ”emigration”, of life to become “normal people”, to overcome some- without a native home started in their earlier years thing inside themselves, that Benas calls “Mongol”, with their forced journeys around Soviet communal “East” or simply “shit”.45 At this point, Ivaškevičius apartments. also re#ects the outcome of the Soviet experience "is insight suggested by the play corresponds and reveals the aggression, rage and self-destructive to the recent research on emigration, that gradual- emotions lurking inside Tarybukai. Delineating ly turns from purely economic, social and political multiple divides between East and West, between explanations to the psychological aspects of emigra- Genghis Khan and Christ, between animal and tion and especially those that relate to post-Soviet man, Ivaškevičius reveals the fragmented identity existence. "e researchers of emigration point out of Lithuanians as post-soviet Eastern Europeans. that mass emigration might partly be an e&ect of the "is is the reason why the play, based on authentic traumatic Soviet experience, namely, the feeling of experiences of Lithuanians, becomes important not placelessness, of lack of roots and attachment to the only in the local context but can appeal to a much national past as well as of the shattered post-Soviet wider public. In 2013, the performance toured Po- identity. As Daiva Dapkutė puts it, contemporary land and was appreciated by Polish critics includ- research on the migration phenomenon armed with ing Roman Pawłowski who wrote: “I am waiting postcolonial theory !nds the explanations of emi- for the Polish version: eventually all of us Eastern gration “in the common traumatic experiences of Europeans are in a certain sense emigrants pushed war, the Soviet period, and postcolonization”. Ac- away from the paradise of their old home lands.”46 cording to them “people do not know how or are At the beginning of 2014 it was also staged at the unable to love their children so they unwittingly Riga Dailes "eatre in Latvia.

72 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 It is important to note that while apparently so that eventually the reader begins to laugh at them disrupting the traditional dramatic form, Mari- and distances him/herself from the characters. "e us Ivaškevičius nevertheless paradoxically remains play, in the words of theatre critic Valdas Gedgau- faithful to the clichés of the representation of emi- das, “exposes a panopticon of motley outsider char- grant experiences that took root in the times of An- acter-types”, including an ex-cop Benas, who was tanas Turskis and Keturakis. One of the clichés is an once a promising undercover o+cer and was later inclination that became apparent in the late nine- disclosed; Vandalas, a small-time thug, colorful, #at teenth century to represent Lithuanian emigration nosed and full of a joy for destruction; Eglė, a naïve not as an individual self-determination but rather photographer who is willing to try out a whole va- as a result of deception from “dishonest people”. riety of life styles in London; Edis, a good-heart- For example, the !rst part of Antanas Turskis’ play ed but failed physicist; Olga, a black faced gothic Without Conscience represents, to put it in the words anarchist; a sanctimonious and grotesque family of the priest Antanas Burba, who took part in the of Lithuanian emigrants from the !rst wave; and a staging of the play, “how the Jews are cheating Lith- number of other characters hanging around in the uanians into emigrating to America”.47 "e comedy metropolis.49 by Keturakis America in the Bathhouse shows how On the other hand, there are also clear distinc- the smart tailor Vincas, pointing to other ostensibly tions between the earlier plays and Expulsion by successful emigration stories, persuades the young Ivaškevičius in the way the portraits of the main and naive country girl Agota to emigrate for a bet- characters are constructed. If the plays by Turskis ter life. In the same manner the emigration stories and Keturakis presented the audience with stable of the characters in Marius Ivaškevičius‘ play Ex- and unchanging characters, the key characters in pulsion starts with the moment when, after a long Ivaškevičius’ play try out a number of new facets journey to London in a small minibus stinking of of personal identity as the play unfolds. "us, Ex- “sausages and gas”, they eventually !nd out that the pulsion artistically embodies not only the contem- promise by the agents of a job and a place to stay porary understanding of dynamic, shifting, pro- was a fraud. "e characters, still “sticky, smelly and cess-based identity but also the attitude, popular in wasted on the journey”, spend the !rst day mowing contemporary migration theories, that the identity and cleaning some park in East London until they of the migrant, formed under the circumstances of eventually realize that they are left without “docu- emigration and deterritorization is particularly mul- ments, future, money or any clue where we are and ti-layered, “always under (re)construction” and its what we should do now”.48 Here Marius Ivaškeviči- “content is always changing as it is gradually seg- us not only represents the authentic experiences of menting into a growing number of divergences”.50 the !rst Tarybukai with illegal employment and fake As sociologists point out, the emigrants of the !rst agencies, but he also follows the long tradition of generation of Grynoriai were deliberately trying to Lithuanian dramaturgy to start the emigration nar- acquire a one-dimensional, steady and stable iden- rative from a situation that is a priori wrong, based tity (which is why they tried to preserve and repeat on fraud and blu&. traditional rituals). In the early Lithuanian plays re- Another model of representation that is appar- #ecting the topic of Grynoriai one can see exactly ent in the play by Ivaškevičius and relates to the tra- the same understanding that the identity of the emi- ditional representations of emigrant experiences in grant is unchanging. "e person condemned to em- Lithuanian drama is to present in the play a wide igration is represented as “rooted out”, “unable to range of characters pictured in sharply grotesque naturalize” or at best – “painfully naturalizing” in a and tragicomic colours. Similar to Keturakis’ come- strange soil. "is understanding of identity is where dy America in the Bathhouse, the play Expulsion pre- the didactic stories, such as the story of Jokūbas from sents the reader with a number of characters who, the play by Antanas Turskis, take their origin. "ey although realistic in nature, are still depicted in a suggest that only after their return home to the na- sneering manner, pinpointing their unique features tive land can an ex-emigrant successfully construct

Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 73 his/her life and future. Meanwhile, contemporary us suggests that identity is process-based, construct- drama corresponds to the attitude characteristic to ed and reconstructed in relation to changing social contemporary migration theories, suggesting that factors. Although the issue of the formation of an the major aim and challenge of every emigrant, liv- emigrant’s identity could o&er an opportunity to ing between two cultures is to !nd and de!ne one’s represent the understanding of hybrid identity as re- own identity most often using both the elements #ected in postcolonial theory (Homi Bhaba or Stu- that were brought along and the ones that were ac- art Hall), Ivaškevičius’ play does not embrace the quired.51 As theatre scholar Una Chaudhuri argues, positive aspect of hybridity. "e characters of Expul- “the new drama taking social instability as its basic sion feel they are in between two experiences, two norm, traces the di+culty of constituting identities cultures. However, they are unable to harmonize on the slippery ground of immigrant experience”.52 their transitional state or to !nd a proper relation- In Expulsion, the most revealing example is the dy- ship with it, which would allow them to experience namic shift of the main character Benas: he is forced the positive aspects of the liminal existence of the to make a fresh start a few times as the play unfolds. emigrant. In this aspect, Lithuanian drama coin- He changes his name, occupation, and nationality cides with the rest of Lithuanian literature. As Dalia (as he pretends to be Polish, then English), trying Sutkaitytė claims about the authors of Lithuanian every time to construct an identity that will help literature in general: “in their texts on emigration him to survive under conditions of emigration. In Lithuanian authors are often relating to identity as this way the play by Ivaškevičius represents a com- something unchanging as they look for the roots plex process of (self)identi!cation in emigration and see emigration only as a threat. Speaking of em- and exposes the contemporary understanding of igration discoveries or its positive e&ect on identity unstable and changing identity. would probably be considered improper.”56 Still, one has to admit, that even this way of re#ecting on the issue of emigration, characteristic of contem- FINAL REMARKS porary Lithuanian theatre, is an appropriate way to It is possible to conclude that, responding to an ur- highlight one of the major problems in contempo- gent problem in society, contemporary Lithuanian rary Lithuanian society and to involve the audience playwrights touch upon the issue of emigration not in a discussion on contemporary social dynamics. only to “frighten Lithuanians away from mass emi- gration”53 as did their predecessors, the playwrights of the late nineteenth century. "e discussed plays also show that the re#ection of emigrant sentiments and experiences in contemporary drama calls for the analysis of much deeper problems of Lithuanian post-Soviet reality, such as a sense of placelessness and fragmented identity. In this respect the play Ex- pulsion can be considered as a very important con- tribution. Claiming that with this play he was aiming not so much at the “documentation” of the stories of emigrants, but rather at an “analysis of what we call identity”,54 Ivaškevičius con!rms the conviction of the literary critics that the issue of emigration is in- evitably forcing writers to re#ect on the questions of identity.55 Di&erent from the playwrights of the late nineteenth century, who represented the idea of a stable and unchanging personal identity, Ivaškeviči-

74 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 NOTES AND REFERENCES 11 Daiva Dapkutė, “An Overview of the Emigration Pro- 1 Data of the Statistics Department of Lithuania. cesses of Lithuanians” in Lithuanus, vol. 58, no. 3, 2012 2 Stephen Castles, Hein de Haas, Mark J. Miller, %e Age Fall, http://www.lituanus.org/2012/12_3_01Dapkute. of Migration: International Population Movements in the html (accessed 11 September 2014). Modern World, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills 2009, 12 Danutė Petrauskaitė, “Operetė lietuviškoje egzodo sce- p. 2. noje JAV: pastangos išlikti ir prisitaikyti (XX a. pirma 3 Daiva Dapkutė, Ingrida Celešiūtė, Diana Jovaišienė, pusė)” in Lietuvos muzikologija, vol. 13, 2012, p. 153. Daiva Kristina Kuzmickaitė, Linas Saldukas, Kristina 13 B. Vaškelis, Žvilgsnis iš atokiau, 2 dalis, Lietuviškoji scena Ūsaitė, Lietuviai pasaulyje: tautinio identiteto išsaugojimas Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose 1883-1990, Versus Aureus, emigracijoje, Baltic Printing House, Klaipėda 2012, p. 9. Vilnius 2006, p. 10. 4 Egidijus Aleksandravičius, Karklo diegas. Lietuvių pasau- 14 Petrauskaitė, op. cit., p. 153. lio istorija, Versus Aureus, Vilnius 2013, p. 19. 15 Vaškelis, op. cit., p. 10. 5 Daiva Kuzmickaitė, Between two Worlds: Recent Lithu- 16 Vytautas Maknys, Teatro dirvonuose, Mokslo ir enciklo- anian Immigrants in Chicago, Versus Aureus, Vilnius pedijų leidybos institutas, Vilnius 1997, p. 266. 2003. 17 Vytautas Maknys, Raštai, II tomas, Artaviva, Vilnius 6 Ibid., p. 20. 2009, p. 258. 7 Even as the years passed, Dipukai saw Lithuania as their 18 Petrauskaitė, op. cit., p. 153. true homeland that they were ready to return to imme- 19 Juozas Vilkutaitis, Amerika Pirtyje, Vaga, Vilnius 1966. diately in case independence was won back, in order to 20 Jonas Lankutis, “Pirmoji lietuviška komedija” in Juozas help their fellow countrymen to “turn back into Lithua- Vilkutaitis, Amerika Pirtyje, Vaga, Vilnius 1966, p. 110. nians” after they had spent years under hard Soviet ide- 21 Vincas Kuzmickas, Antanas Vilkutaitis-Keturakis, Moks- ological pressure. Ieva Kripienė, Identitetų konstravimas las, Vilnius 1981, pp. 174-7. transnacionalinėje migracijoje: šiuolaikiniai imigrantai iš 22 Dapkutė, op. cit. Lietuvos Jungtinėse Amerikos valstijose, Daktaro disertaci- 23 For example, the production America in the Bathhouse ja, VDU, Kaunas 2012, p. 19. directed by Valdas Lencevičius in 1974 is still present in 8 As the sociologist Ieva Kripienė accurately remarks, “the the repertoire of Kaunas National Drama "eatre. nickname Tarybukai (Little Soviets) is related neither to 24 Aleksandravičius, op. cit., p. 42. the aspects of displacement in the recipient country (as 25 Castles, de Haas, Miller, op. cit. Grynoriai) nor to the provisional settlement before leav- 26 Aleksandravičius, op. cit., p. 18. ing for one’s destination country (like Dipukai) but to 27 Neringa Liubinienė, “Aš esu lietuvė visada, tiktai galiu the political order of their own home country” which in turėti kitą pilietybę: imigrantų iš Lietuvos identiteto the eyes of the emigrants of the earlier generations ”de- dėlionės Šiaurės Airijoje” in Lietuviškasis identitetas šiuo- termined the political and cultural beliefs of the new em- laikinės emigracijos kontekstuose, Vytis Čiubrinskas, ed., igrants”. Recently however, the continual #ow of Tarybu- Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, Kaunas 2011, p. 144. kai is often referred to as the "ird-Wavers, New-Wavers 28 http://www.lithuanianleaders.org (accessed 9 September and Newcomers as their social characteristics and the 2014). ways and aims of emigration grow increasingly complex. 29 Lina Musta!naitė, “Kitoks požiūris į emigraciją” in See Kripienė, op. cit., p. 20. Lietuvos Rytas, 12 October 2011, http://www.lrytas. 9 Paul White, “Geography, Literature and Migration” in lt/-13183562591317530706-kitoks-po%C5%BEi%- Writing Across Worlds. Literature and Migration, R. King, C5%ABris-%C4%AF-emigracij%C4%85-globa- J. Connel, P. White, eds., Routledge, London and New liai-m%C4%85stantys-ir-veikiantys-jauni-profesio- York 1995, p. 5. nalai-%C5%BEino-kaip-panaudoti-nutek%C4%97ju- 10 Keturakis is a pseudonym used by two brothers Vilkutai- sius-protus.htm (accessed 5 March 2014). tis, namely Antanas Vilkutaitis (1864-1903) and Juozas 30 Vaidutis Laurėnas, “Tautos delokalizacijos trauma” in Vilkutaitis (1869-1948). Literary researchers still argue Tautinės tapatybės dramaturgija: lietuvių tautinis identi- which one of them is the real author of the comedy tetas ir integralumas kintančiame pasaulyje, R. Grigas, L. America in the Bathhouse. Klimka, eds., Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto leidykla,

Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 75 Vilnius 2005, pp. 173-86. 46 “Britanija, tėvyne mano! ‘Išvarymas’ Varšuvoje“ in Me- 31 Daiva Valevičienė, “Emigracija – didžiausia nekarinė nufaktura, 11 June 2013, http://www.menufaktura. grėsmė” in Kauno Diena, 16 March 2006, http://kauno. lt/?m=3391&s=65426#gsc.tab=0 (accessed 25 February diena.lt/dienrastis/kita/emigracija---didziausia-nekari- 2014). ne-gresme-35874#.UzVSe03NvL8 (accessed 14 March 47 Julius Būtėnas, Aušrininkas dr. Jonas Šliūpas, Žara, Vil- 2014). nius 2004, p. 143. 32 Mindaugas Jackevičius, “Istorikas L.Truska: tai ne emi- 48 Ivaškevičius, op. cit., p. 24 gracija, tai – evakuacija” in Lietuvos Rytas, 7 March 2011, 49 Valdas Gedgaudas, “Torpedoms nebūna Kalėdų” in http://www.del!.lt/news/daily/emigrants/istorikas-ltrus- Menufaktura, 27 December 2011, http://www.menu- ka-tai-ne-emigracija-tai-evakuacija.d?id=42822671 (ac- faktura.lt/?m=1025&s=60754#gsc.tab=0 (accessed 18 cessed 5 March 2014). September 2014). 33 Dapkutė, op. cit. 50 Liubinienė, op. cit., p. 141. 34 Inga Saukienė, “Apklausa: apie emigraciją vienaip ar ki- 51 On the (e)migrant‘s identity, see Lietuviškasis identitetas taip mąsto pusė šalies gyventojų” in Del$, 21 November šiuolaikinės emigracijos kontekstuose, Vytis Čiubrinskas, 2011, http://www.del!.lt/news/daily/lithuania/apklau- ed., Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, Kaunas 2011. sa-apie-emigracija-vienaip-ar-kitaip-masto-puse-sa- 52 Una Chaudhuri, Staging Place. %e Geography of Modern lies-gyventoju.d?id=51966417#ixzz3G7mdEibL (acces- Drama, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1995, sed 9 March 2014). p. 173 35 “Bernardinai TV pokalbiai apie emigraciją (I)” in 53 Jūratė Visockaitė, “Išsivalymas” in 7 meno dienos, 13 Ja- Bernandinai, 12 December 2013, http://www.ber- nuary 2012. nardinai.lt/straipsnis/2013-12-18-bernardinai-tv-po- 54 “M. Ivaškevičiaus išvarymo premjera išlydės ir senuosius kalbiai-apie-emigracija-i-prof-egidijus-aleksandravi- metus” in Lietuvos Rytas, 20 December 2011, http:// cius-lietuviu-pasaulis-po-1990-uju/111700 (accessed 24 kultura.lrytas.lt/-13243892051324356761-m-iva%- February 2014). C5%A1kevi%C4%8Diaus-i%C5%A- 36 Marius Macevičius, Antoškos kartoškos = Goodbye, my love 1varymo-premjera-i%C5%A1lyd%C4%97s-ir-senuo- = Картошки Антошки, Kitos knygos, Kaunas 2009. sius-metus.htm (accessed 9 October 2014). 37 Ibid., p. 73. 55 White, op. cit., p. 2. 38 Ibid., pp. 73-4. 56 Dalia Satkauskytė, “Lėtas transkultūrinis tapsmas ir jo 39 “Antoškos kartoškos – atvirai ir su humoru apie emi- vertės naujausioje lietuvių emigrantų literatūroje” in graciją” in Del$, 14 October 2006, http://www.del!.lt/ Žmogus ir žodis, vol. 2, 2012, p. 33. pramogos/kultura/antoskos-kartoskos-atvirai-ir-su-hu- moru-apie-emigracija.d?id=10947903 (accesed 7 March 2014). 40 “Marius Macevičius: spektaklis ‘Antoškos kartoškos’” in Music, 28 February 2009, http://www.music.lt/Ma- rius-Macevicius-Spektaklis-Antoskos-Kartoskos-rengi- nys-3394.html (accessed 4 September 2014). 41 Dapkutė, op. cit. 42 Marius Ivaškevičius, Išvarymas: vieno obuolio kronika, Apostrofa, Vilnius 2012. 43 Valdas Vasiliauskas, “Mūsų bilietas į vieną pusę” in Lie- tuvos žinios, 29 December 2011, http://www.teatras.lt/ lt/spektakliai/marius_ivaskevicius_isvarymas (accessed 3 October 2014). 44 Elona Bajorinienė, “Išvaryta Lietuva XXL formatu” in Kultūros barai, no. 1, 2012, p. 23. 45 Ivaškevičius, op. cit.

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