NEWSLETTER


DOS & DON'TS

“Its actually awesome that Aunt Ruth kicked me out of the house ‘cause now I get to wear whatever I want, whenever I want.” Comments/Enlarge | See all


The LSD-S&M-toilet-brush- from-Sesame-Street vibe is surprisingly big in East London these days. Comments/Enlarge | See all






RELATED ARTICLES

ROMAN POLANSKI’S PIRATE DAYS
In the summer of 1976, I was asked to ph...
VICE PICTURES - GRATEFUL DEAD
The Kill Your Parents Issue
MEMORIES OF MEDELLÍN
Selections From Pablo Escobar’s Per...
VICE PICTURES - FOUR DESIGNERS H...
The Rainy Day Issue

GLAS-NOT!

Soviet Times Sucked. Want to See for Yourself?


Photos courtesy of Rūta Vanagaite.

So these nuts in Lithuania have opened up a new theme park called 1984: Isvgyvenimo Drama. The basic premise is that you, dear customer, are a freshly caught Russian political dissident and now you are going to be locked up in hell and then interrogated by monstrous communists. Six Flags? Who needs it?

The fun begins about 15 miles away from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius where an abandoned bunker in the middle of the woods has been transformed into the most fun you can have this side of the Gulag Archipelago. You’ll be questioned by a KGB agent, visit the infirmary (whether you need to or not), and learn the Soviet anthem under shrieked threats of a smack in the face. You’ll also watch the TV programs that were broadcast back in the day and eat typical Soviet food on some quality Soviet tableware. And if you don’t carry out all the orders you receive, you will immediately be kicked out with no refund. Sorry comrade, but them’s the rules.

We recently talked with Rūta Vanagaite., producer and creator of this attraction, to find out why the fuck anyone would want to go there.

Vice: Why are you doing this?

Rūta: Two years ago, I was on the committee that developed new activities to take place in Lithuania in 2009, the year in which Vilnius is going to be the European Capital of Culture. We realized that by 2009 there would be about half a million young Lithuanians born since the fall of the Soviet regime in 1991. These kids have never seen a Soviet soldier. They don’t know what the KGB really was. So we designed a TV reality show called Back to the USSR, where a number of 18-year-old boys and girls would be immersed in the conditions that their parents had to endure during the 50 years of Russian occupation. Lithuanian public TV rejected the idea after considering it for a long time. They were afraid that it would represent a bitter look at the past for the older generations. That’s when I thought about creating this other project, in the form of a performance.

Why do you think people want to come to your place? On first impression, it seems like they are paying to have a bad time.

That’s exactly what is going on. But oddly enough, when we finish the show, we see 40 happy faces, inspired by what they have come through. It’s more therapy than fun. When you are in, you experience what it was to be a Soviet citizen, and you keep thinking about this experience after it’s over.

The actors are pretty scary.

All of our actors—both professional and not—were in the Soviet army. Some of them were even interrogators during Soviet times.

Let’s wrap this up with a sales pitch. Can you persuade our readers to travel to Lithuania to be treated like shit by you and your employees?

If you want to fully enjoy daylight, you have to get into the dark for a while. If you want to fully enjoy your dinner, stay hungry for a while. If you want to fully enjoy democracy and freedom, come to our bunker and become a Soviet citizen for two hours.

JUANJO VILLALBA

See all articles by this contributor

< PREV

Comments

Anonymous, on Jun 29, 2009 wrote:
the balic nations are univocally harshly critical of the leftists and stalin because the huge part of baltic population which would be rather critical of the conservatives and hitler did not survive hitler.
Anonymous, on Nov 28, 2008 wrote:
They make you vear Soviet-era clothes, but you don’t have to make Soviet-era haircuts...
Anonymous, on Nov 6, 2008 wrote:
This is just show, better communismus understanding is presented in Genocide Victim museum, Vilnius. It’s proffesional and facts based
Anonymous, on Aug 29, 2008 wrote:
Fuck Communism, I would bash someone who sympathize with them!!
Anonymous, on Aug 26, 2008 wrote:
If I can have the Soviet haircut, I am coming! No really, I think this is a really good way for people to stay in touch with history. It’s really no worse than civil war re-enactin gin the US or analagous things in Europe. It’s just people think it a bit odd to want to re-experience or go back to the horrors of history as well. But I think it is a brilliant way of keeping in touch with what really happened. If I were a History Teacher, I would take my class there for a field trip!
Anonymous, on Aug 24, 2008 wrote:
It’s interesting but it’s as interesting as a Scared Straight program. Unfortunately, history repeats itself, and we need ’theme parks’ like this in order to remind us the evils in the world, especially when Socialism and Communism doesn’t work! Never did, and it never will.
Anonymous, on Aug 23, 2008 wrote:
i think its cool everyone wants us to remember the holocaust and the Nazi’s why not one of the biggest twats the world has ever know Stalin he killed 40 million
Anonymous, on Aug 21, 2008 wrote:
What a load of bullcrap
Anonymous, on Aug 20, 2008 wrote:
and imagine if you were black and gay too
Anonymous, on Aug 19, 2008 wrote:
This kinda reminds me of an idea I used to have for a party called Lose Day, where upon enterring you have to drink far too much everclear and run around in a house blindfolded while other people do the same. One person gets to torture the blindfolded drunks. Awesome right?
Anonymous, on Aug 17, 2008 wrote:
umm, awesome?
Anonymous, on Aug 13, 2008 wrote:
pls tell me those are stuffed dogs.
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
i want to shack up with Cossack babes. where can i do that?
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
Do they make you wear Soviet-era clothes too? And get Soviet-era haircuts?
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
Maybe I’m fucked, but I would sign up for both this and the proposed Nazi theme park in a second.
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
this is the shit my father escaped so i can have a better life, now i want to go experience it :P
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
1984, nineteen eighty-four. one nine eight four.
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
you could call it "Rommel McDonalds"...i’m down.
Anonymous, on Aug 12, 2008 wrote:
His pitch is good! This place is great, I want to go. Imagine if you could visit a Nazi camp staffed with real Nazi’s....nuts.

POST A COMMENT [SIGN IN]
Hi, in case you haven't heard, you can now sign up to become a "member" of Viceland.com, which entitles you to all sorts of amazing benefits like pictures and a nickname. Click here to make your own profile. You can still comment if you don't, but you gotta do it all 'nonymously.

Name:
Comment: