LEFTIST IDEAS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE YOUTH THEATRE: THE 1940s–1950s

Abstract

When discussing the influence of leftist ideas on the Latvian stage, one of the main examples to begin with is the creation and activities of The Children’s and Youth Theatre from the 1940s to the early 1960s. During this period, this theatre can be called an active interpreter of leftist ideas for the audience of children and teenagers. The beginnings of The Children’s and Youth Theatre can also be linked with Anna Lāce. Although she did not actually participate in the organisation of the theatre as she was under arrest in Russia at the time, her daughter Dagmāra Lāce (later – Ķimele) had come to Riga after her mother’s arrest. Her father Jūlijs Lācis, who was the People’s Commissioner for Education and Culture in 1940, helped Dagmāra to return to Latvia. She may have told her father about this theatre and its effect on the aesthetic upbringing of children and teenagers. The overall task and objective of the newly founded Children’s and Youth Theatre was communist education of young people. One of the main demands of communist upbringing was to use the theatre as a portrait of a young hero whom the young audiences – the communist builders would aspire to emulate, who would captivate them with a higher goal, an ideal, and a dream. A search for the young hero – the communist builder continued in the theatre during the first decade after World War II. During this period The Youth Theatre did its best to strictly follow the instructions of Communist Party ideologists.