Teātra kritika Covid-19 pandēmijas laikā (2020–2022)

Abstract

The experience of the pandemic period (2020–2022) has become part of the recent history of Latvian theatre, and the purpose of this article is to analyse the adaptation of criticism to the ‘new normal’ in terms of both form and content. The article’s research object is the reviews by theatre critics in the Latvian printed press and electronic media during the period of pandemic restrictions – from March 13, 2020, until spring 2022. After March 13, 2020, when the first outbreak of Covid-19 began in Latvia, inevitable confusion arose not only in theatres but also in the press writing about the theatre industry. The specialised cultural media had to create a new concept of content, shifting from performance reviews to the format of interviews or discussions. As theatres created new performative works of various formats, critics had to find new ways and vocabulary to write about them, including the use of new words such as ‘covid time’, ‘lockdown’, ‘online performance’, etc. New virtual performances contributed to discussions about whether or not e-theatre is a ‘real theatre’; critics began to pay attention to such technical aspects as the angle of the camera, the specifics of editing, the choice of close-ups, etc. Discussions became relevant on how to distinguish between performances created specifically for the virtual environment and recordings of performances that theatres showed during lockdown. Experimental formats of criticism emerged: in the spring of 2020, a cycle of fake reviews of performances that were not shown to the public due to the pandemic was published in the electronic journal Kroders.lv; inspired by the form used in Elmārs Seņkovs’s successful virtual performance “Iran Conference”, four critics founded the KuKū critics’ discussion club on the Zoom platform, its name describing the sense of the world at that time. Criticism changed from evaluative and analytical in the traditional sense to empathically descriptive, stimulating a discussion about the ethics of criticism. Categorical definitions turned into discussion questions and critical observations – into empathetic advice on how theatres can survive in pandemic conditions. The authors’ article explores these and other aspects of form and content by conducting a qualitative content analysis of Latvian theatre critics’ reviews and outlining the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Latvian theatre criticism.