Jesters and Executioners: The Future of East European Theater and Drama

Authors

E. J. Czerwinski

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia affected the literary and cultural affairs in all the countries of East Europe. Shortly after August, 1968, a definite profile, especially in the theater, began to take shape. Dialog, the Polish theatre monthly, lost its editor, Adam Tarn, and the Theater of the Absurd, together with experimentation in theater and drama, ceased to exist in Poland. Censorship, dormant or almost dead since the mid-fifties, began to appear in Yugoslavia, especially in Belgrade, Ljubljana, and Zagreb. In the Soviet Union writers such as Rozov and Arbuzov, who had for the past ten years flirted with experimentation in their dramas, have, in their latest works, adhered to standard themes-unrequited love, sacrifice of the male's ego, criticism of past mistakes in the light of today's optimism, and old war stories. Producers, directors and writers in Hungary and Romania have managed to avoid controversy in the hope that the slight gains made in the past five years will not be suddenly nullified. As for the theaters in Czechoslovakia political comment has been silenced since September, 1969.

Recommended Citation

Czerwinski, E. J. (1971) "Jesters and Executioners: The Future of East European Theater and Drama," Comparative Drama: Vol. 5: Iss. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol5/iss3/4