Dear Grandmother, How Are You? The Influence of Anna Lacis on the Development of Political Theatre in Latvia

Abstract

"In this article, I will quote several letters of Māra Ķimele to Anna Lācis ... and attempt to reveal the signs of the era embedded in them, proof of Anna Lācis’s and Māra Ķimele’s professional quests, and to relate them to the tradition of political theatre in contemporary Latvia. It can be said without a doubt that Asja was one of the brightest and most expressive pioneers of political theatre in Latvia in the 1920s, and contemporary Latvian artists can metaphorically call her a grandmother. The title of this article thus relates not only to the direct correspondence between Māra Ķimele and Anna Lācis, but also the willingness to commence a dialogue on the state of political art in Soviet and contemporary independent Latvia."