Both experienced and brand new actors get into the roles at the “Viktorija” culture house, and you can watch the show in two different ensembles.
The director notes that Liepaja has two sister cities in Sweden – Helsingborg and Nineshamn – and you should know something about friends, but the theaters in Liepaja have not really had contact with Swedish drama.
“I started researching Swedish plays and this one really spoke to me because family issues and the term ‘Swedish family’ have been around for a long time.
Are we different then? We are probably not, something is also found in Latvian families,” says D. Kandevica.
Madara Gruntmane created the scenography for the play, as well as the music for it. The native of Liepaja is more widely known as a poet, but she recently completed her master’s degree at the Latvian Academy of Arts.
The play has been staged quite a lot in Latvia, including in amateur theaters. Therefore, D. Kandevica wanted to put it in a new frame, inviting a young and creative artist.
“The show is about complicated relationships, about the boundary lines that we forget to draw. Therefore, scenography comes to the rescue with red lines that show a conditional “Stop” signal,” says M. Gruntmane.
On the blocks of insulating materials in the stage room, there is the inscription “Warmer”, which means cold, disordered and wrong relationships in the family, and the scenography contains the message that something should be changed.
“Returning to Liepāja is always quite emotional for me.
I graduated from the music college here as a pianist, and now I had the opportunity to use my skills as a music author as well,” says the artist, for whom music created especially for a theater performance will be her baptism of fire.
The play is staged in two ensembles, because the Liepāja Independent Theater has a large troupe and everyone should be given the opportunity to play roles, the director admits.
Experienced actor Ainars Krūms plays Fredrik, the husband of one of the three sisters. There are several children in the family, but only the youngest daughter Tanya appears on the stage.
“The story is about what happens in any society – the family doesn’t understand, is estranged and rarely gets together,”
he tells.
As a result, during meetings, arguments start over nothing – accumulated suspicions, the unspoken, and such squabbles can last for years, but the children are neglected.
“Something must happen so that people understand what is important and primary in life,” says A. Krūms.
Ines Indrikson plays the role of the grandmother. “There is nothing strange, because I am a grandmother myself. However, it is very difficult to extract something from the image in the field. Could she be nervous or gloomy… I decided that I would be a proper grandmother, a bit modern and strict,” she reveals.
The grandmother worries about all the daughters who have problems in their families, but the best contact is with the granddaughter. “Because no one else wants to listen to her,” adds Tanja’s actress Beāte Bērziņa.
Tanja becomes pregnant by her aunt’s husband-to-be, the writer Tūmas. The actress says that she has never played such a character before and it is very interesting to work and play together.
This girl does not feel comfortable in her family, it is difficult to live with her parents. “Everything happens very impulsively with Tūmas, because Tanja is a girl who figures out what she wants and will get it,” says Beāte.
Contribution of the media support fund from Latvian state budget funds. The portal liepajniekiem.lv is responsible for the prepared content.
