Lithuanian theatre before 1991 fought against censorship and occupation, constructed viable cultural bonds, and affirmed social cohesion. Today, against a resurgence of Russian imperialism, the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre has attempted to situate questions of “who we are” in relation to contested histories and pervasive social and religious taboos.

Tadeusz Słobodzianek's play, Our Class , addresses the 1941 massacre in the village of Jedwabne, Poland, where an estimated 1,600 local Jews were rounded up by their neighbors, locked inside a barn, and burned to death. First staged in London at the Royal National Theatre in 2009, and later remounted at Teatr na Woli in Warsaw, the play investigates the relationship between anti-Semitism and Polish national identity, exploring how theatre can shape our understanding of history.