Reconstuctions of sacral history : mnemonic strategies in Lithuanian religious theatre

Abstract

Straipsnyje pristatomas atminties teatro fenomenas: religinis teatras interpretuojamas kaip atminties rūmai, kuriuose atkuriami ir pakartojami sakraliniai vaizdiniai ir siužetai, kuriamos jų teatrinio įprasminimo strategijos, atnaujinama ir atgaivinama šiuolaikinio žmogaus krikščioniška tapatybė. Religinio teatro fenomenas pristatomas su plačiu teoriniu kontekstu. Lyginant jėzuitų baroko teatre susiformavusią theatrum mundi koncepciją su Franceso Yateso atminties teatro teorija, išskiriama atsiminimų teatralizacijos strategijos: atminties rūmų konceptas kuriamas pakartojant šventos vietos, evangelinio siužeto įvykius ar personažo charakterius ir išsaugant juos kaip atminties metaforas. Lyginant XVII a. jėzuitų spektaklį Dievo ir žmonių padangtė su šiuolaikiniais pastatymais Lietuvos sovietiniame ir posovietiniame, profesionaliame ir mėgėjų teatre, atskleidžiamos sielos skrydžio į Dievo namus metaforos. Rekonstruojant, prisimenant, įsimenant ir pakartojant religiniame teatre Dievo surežisuotą theatrum mundi pasaulį kuriama metateatrinė reprezentacija, kurioje dominuoja atminties apie žmogaus ir Dievo dialogą metaforos. Todėl pakartojimo ir prisiminimų strategijų Lietuvos religiniame teatre tikslas – atkurti žmogaus ir Dievo dialogą ir reprezentuoti jį kaip atminties rūmus, kuriuose kuriama krikščioniška tapatybė

One of the most impressive pages of the theatrical collaboration of the Church and the secular in Lithuania is the baroque Jesuit theatre. In Lithuania, religious theatre was created by monks of different congregations; however, the conception of Theatrum Mundi was embodied in practice by Jesuit order. The baroque Theatrum Mundi revealed the world as a dramatic zone of light and darkness where man, directed by God, gets rid of primordial sin. The world of Theatrum Mundi required heroes, and the spirituality hardened in post-reformation conflict raised them; in baroque dramas, the heathen, warriors, antique heroes, inhabitants of Europe’s peripheries, saints and martyrs were choosing the Kingdom of Heaven, and the trumpets of the Judgement Day were inspiring them. The reconstruction of Theatrum Mundi in Lithuanian theatre is based on the mnemonic strategy of the spiritual flight to God’s dwelling. The manifestations of the mnemonic strategy in theatre theory and theatre productions are emphasized as the leading aspect characteristic of the search for religious identity. A meta-theatrical representation based on metaphors of memory is created in the re-enacted, remembered and repeated world of Theatrum Mundi. In the course of the present analysis the sacral theatre is treated as a theatre of memory, the mnemonic strategies of which represent the transformation of repetition into recollection. Sacral history, re-enacted as a Memory Palace, is considered to be the main narrative of the sacral theatre in terms of reconstruction of sacred images, symbols and concepts