Actress Rēzija Kalniņa and conductor Ainārs Rubiķis this summer is both a work and a holiday time, because the meeting place created by the two, the Music and Drama Room Oratory celebrating his first birthday. It is planned to spend it with the audience, enjoying three new productions – “KvArTeTs”, paraDIZZY and “Mom” – premieres. The first of them or “Quartet” – already tonight!
Orest Silabriedis: Let’s meet at the OratoriO house and talk not only about the event that is already here, right at the door, but we will definitely mark what will happen in the coming months, because finally it looks like something can start happening, right?
Rēzija Kalniņa: Yes, it finally looks like it can happen …
We had such a good saying yesterday that we do not sort people – we sort waste.
Therefore, for our part, we can say that we were looking for and creating an opportunity for both vaccinated, sick and tested spectators to come to us – one show can be seen by vaccinated and sick spectators, and the next day by those who perform the test. Already tonight we have the premiere of “Quartet” with fabulous actors – Gunta Virkava, Indra Burkovska, Mārtiņš Vilsons and Juris Kalniņš. In my view
it is a story that artists and people in general are mocked like lemons, then thrown away, but they still go on and want to be those lemons …
And there is also the story that we still carry the past with us: no matter where the stage is – be it a theater, an opera or a nursing home – an actor or a singer cannot do without it …
Of course, this story can be told elegantly and sparklingly, but in reality it is no joy …
Rēzija Kalniņa: I think it’s like life. However, we do not think it is happy or sad, because it is tragic and comically tragic. And the way these actors play … Each of them was once a grand in his theater – Juris Kalnins in Daile, Gunta Virkava National Theater, Indra Burkovska started, in my opinion, in Valmiera, but now she is in the National, Mārtiņš Wilsons in Liepāja. Each of them has its own feeling. For my part, in this story I also see my mother, who was a grandson in both Liepaja and the National Theater, and what was the end of her life –
until the last breath she continued to be Mrs. Ceplis, an actress, an artist, still in some way continuing to live her relationship in the past.
Anyway, can you imagine yourself in such a nursing home when you are an old, gray maestro?
Ainars Rubikis: We have an agreement with Rezia: the moment she realizes that I’m doing complete nonsense on stage, she’ll just drive me out of it with a broomstick. (laughs)
Rezia, will it really be?
Rēzija Kalniņa: I don’t know if I won’t be so weird (laughs).
Ainars Rubikis: Then we won’t have a quartet in the nursing home, but at least we will have a duo. In a nursing home – we don’t know that yet.
Maybe we should start thinking about cultivating and creating one in time – but in my opinion, there is no nursing home in Latvia that is specifically for performing artists?
Ainars Rubikis: I don’t think so. It would be a good idea …
Maybe we can briefly give a fable to listeners who don’t understand what we’re talking about?
Rēzija Kalniņa: “Quartet” is a play by Roland Harvud, but the director of the production is Rolands Atkočūns. And the fable is that four opera soloists meet in the artists’ nursing home. Three of them are already there, and one of them is not given jam by Sister Angelica. And then this image of Juris Kalniņš uses all sorts of words to get his jam. (laughs)
This is who Rigoleto? Baritones.
Rēzija Kalniņa: Yes.
And then there is the hero of Mārtiņš Wilson, who has health problems at least within the play, but he always talks about the fact that he has no problems and that he is still very powerful and active …
And then there is Sisi, played by Gunta Virkava – all her life she has been hungry for love, just somehow missed. And she still craves them – Sisy noticed a gardener right in the nursing home … And then there is the heroine of Indra Burkovska, who arrives at the nursing home after her husband’s funeral, and then the quartet of life and the relationship that existed – she wonders why it happened and not in this.
But what about in the end – do they sing the quartet or not?
Rēzija Kalniņa: Each director can interpret it differently. We don’t want to reveal how, but it’s very, very touching.
And exactly the last onslaught is probably the tragedy of the artist – that he can no longer, but is also great in his inability.
Who chose the play and who – the director?
Rēzija Kalniņa: Rolands Atkočūns came up with an offer for this play – that he would like to stage it here and with these actors. I knew this play, and I said yes, it’s a wonderful choice. Roland thought it would be more of a commerce, but I don’t see it that way. I believe that there is a show again that makes us think – with comical elements, of course, but that makes us think about our parents, about ourselves, about where we want to go or where we will be forced to go.
And probably the fable on my part would be that life should be enjoyed here and now so that we do not have to regret something we have not done instead of what we have done.
So – need to try everything, check everything?
Rēzija Kalniņa: You just have to not lie to yourself. Don’t give yourself up and don’t lie to yourself.
Is there music in the show?
Ainars Rubikis: Yes, there is music in the play, and in this particular production, the music was more or less chosen by the director himself. Of course, “Rigoleto” is played, but there are also some other excerpts from opera arias, there is also original mood music. Interestingly, Rolands is very attuned to the space of music and drama, because it turns out that a full-fledged attempt can not take place without music at all, because it is music that gives the actors the impetus to play further. If there is no background music, they confuse …
Almost come or opera?
Rēzija Kalniņa: Yes, the genre of this show could be called “almost opera”.
Ainars Rubikis: Almost an opera house …
It will be speculation, of course, but I will ask: are the actor in the nursing home and the opera singer in the nursing home comparable? Is the opera singer something completely different though?
Rēzija Kalniņa: Both are diagnoses.
Ainars Rubikis: Here I have a story from ancient times.
When I went to the Daile Theater with the choir “While …” for the show “Melancholic Waltz” and we started to get to know the life of the theater, the theater people – actors, directors, performers, bartenders – the conclusion was that it is a completely different species.
Of course, in a good way. And I think an actor or an opera singer are also two different species.
Rēzija Kalniņa: Let’s say – not even species, but varieties. (laughs)
Ainars Rubikis: The biggest difference – and there is a story in this show – is that each of us experiences in our professional field. I’m talking about purely professional things that end up somewhat ruining a person’s life in the end. It’s not just an artist’s profession, it’s in any.
Each of us has some tools that we work with, and when they are worn out and cannot be played on, it becomes a tragedy. Rhesia rightly says that it is a tragedy, but at the same time people remain big anyway.
More and more – in the record!
Context
Winter and spring months Oratory spent performing three new plays and realizing a number of more exciting projects. Ronald Harvwood’s tragic comedy will premiere on June 27 ” KvArTeTs ” Directed by Roland Atkochun. Are we able to go back in time or continue our journey together when we meet our stage or life partners at the crossroads of life? And can we drop ‘excess weight’ and luggage so we can continue to be together? Cast: Mārtiņš Vilsons, Gunta Virkava, Indra Burkovska, Juris Kalniņš. Performances: June 27 and 30 at 19.00.
Sean Grenan’s play will return to the audience in July “Now and then”who contemplates the question of who is ultimately what determines our destiny. The creators of the show have created the name of the genre for this show – the shower of the soul. “Now and Then” is an incredible story of human will, choices and love through the years. What is a crossroads and at what point? Can we choose? Has the choice already been made?
The director of the performance Rēzija Kalniņa has gathered an outstanding ensemble of actors. Cast: Esmeralda Ermale, Jana Herbsta or Ilze Trukšāne, Raimonds Celms, Jānis Skanis or Juris Kalniņš. Performances: July 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Music and drama room Oratory has started cooperation with Mikhail Chekhov’s Riga Russian Theater and is jointly implementing the project Meeting point. Meeting place. Место встречи. Oratory becomes an integral space – such as a bridge to meet coexisting basic cultures and a multilingual audience, where performances of various genres and forms are created and where professionals from different theaters come together. Two performances have already been made within the framework of the cooperation.
Asya Voloshin’s play “Mother” Directed by Ināra Slucka with the wonderful Ekaterina Frolova in the role of Olga, there is a story about growth and acceptance of generations. The premiere is expected on August 13, performances – on August 14 and 15.
And the show paraDIZZY is a study of the world of women and men, where movement and sound are one whole. Choreographer and director Inga Krasovska has gathered Latvian and Russian-speaking actors in her performance show: Aija Andrejeva, Zani Dombrovskis, Vitalija Jakovļevs and Aleksandrs Malikovs. The premiere is expected on August 27, performances – on August 28 and 29.
There are several concert cycles scheduled for this season “A Moment After Dinner” events under the artistic direction of Ainars Rubikis. On August 8 and 10, pianist Toms Juhņēvičs and singer Juris Vizbulis will premiere songs with the poetry of Krista Kalniņš’s recently published poetry collection “Niekkalbītis Poze Book”.
In support of young playwrights, in July to Oratory stage one-act elegy “Fate gives you life and you ask for a salary for it” will be performed by Emīlija Vilkārse and Liene Upīte.
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