“Latvian horror stories”, “Nelabie”. After Dostoevsky” and “Brands” – three ideas to experience in the theater / Article

“Latvian horror stories”

This weekend in Daugavpils, it will be possible to experience “Latvian horror stories” – a performance by Georgij Surkov with scenography by Andras Eglīš and music by Platon Buravits.

The performance is based on six stories from the collection “Latvian horror stories” (2016) compiled by Bārbala Simsones, which includes the stories of Aleksandar Grīn, Mirdza Bendrupa, Viesturs Reimer, Vladimir Kaijak and Ralf Kokin. They span different eras, from the early 20th century to the present day, giving a glimpse into what has inspired fear in people over the past hundred years.

“The bad guys. After Dostoevsky”

The Valmiera Drama Theater is visiting Riga this week with Elmārs Senkovs and Justīnes Kļavas’ “The Bad Guys. After Dostoevsky”, which will be played at the National Theater on February 2 and 3.

The dramaturgical material of the performance was inspired by the novel “Devils” published in 1872 by the classic of world literature, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The performance consists of music by Edgars Mäkens, lights by Oskar Pauliņš, costumes by Linda Mīļas and Ilze Vītoliņa, actors from the younger generation of Valmiera and Elīna Vāne. It seems that recently “Nelabie” is a show whose importance and high quality are agreed upon by almost all theater critics, which is not a very frequent phenomenon in our theater world.

“Brands”

Last week, the Daile Theater experienced a long-awaited event – Ibsen’s “Brands” returned to the big stage after 48 years!

The Great Hall of the Fine Arts Theater is the largest theater performance space in Latvia, so it is no stranger to scope. However, among other things, I would like to single out Ieva Segliņa’s acting in the role of Brand as the greatest achievement and success. Under the direction of Viestura Kairis and the set design of Ieva Jurjānes, Jesus can also be seen on stage from the beginning of the play to the very end, as a quite literal eye of God, characters such as Joker and Batman also appear fragmentarily, but in the premiere, as Māra Ķimele said, some of Smilģas’ jokes were also visible.