On September 6 for the first time in Riga a performance by Klāvs Mellis “The Sleeper Awakes'' premiered. The performance, which first premiered in Helsinki, talks about five undead zombie friends in a world taken over by death. This is a lyrical horror story about unbreakable ties of friendship, repetitive waking of the Snowwhite, the heartfelt superhit by Bonnie Tyler, broken wind generator, a huge mirror and even bigger black hole.
Actors: Ance Strazda, Paula Pļavniece, Āris Matesovičs, Jānis Kronis. Radošā komanda - Rūdolfs Gediņš, Kārlis Tone, Inese Tone, Nikola Suhareva.
The director Klāvs Mellis describes the performance:
“A play about zombies - it does sound like a joke. However, this banality holds in itself different meanings and metaphors. On one hand, zombies are always accompanied, on another - they are always alone. The culture of zombies can be seen as a warning to the current culture. This type of society is not evil, but it is completely useless. If we remember the famous thought by Decartes, we could say that the society of zombies doesn’t think therefore it does not exist. In short, our performance is an attempt to understand how to not die inside - individually and collectively.”
By the end of October a performance called “Artūrs Skrastiņš nedrīkst būt noguris” (Artūrs Skrastiņš cannot be tired) will premiere. It’s a mocumentary inspired by a book by Līvija Dūmiņa “Artūra Skrastiņa Spogulija”. The performance will reveal a made up story about the fact that this book exists at all. Theatre critic Līvija Dūmiņa writes a book about Artūrs Skrastiņš for 16 years. Meanwhile, Artūrs slowly distances from his own identity and Līvija gets only closer to it - she doesn’t play any other roles, all her attention, her concerns and love are sacrificed for understanding Artūrs Skrastiņš. Until, one day, Līvija knows Artūrs better than he knows himself. This performance will be about infatuation, unearthly love and the ambiguous nature of identity. Creative team - Rūdolfs Gediņš, Klāvs Mellis, Jānis Šipkēvics, Kārlis Tone, Kate Krolle, Nikola Suhareva, Ance Strazda. Artūrs Skrastiņš and Līvija Dūmiņa will be played Guna Zariņa and Reinis Boters.
In the middle of December a performance called “Trinidada!” will premiere. This work will be based on the ideas about postcolonial theory by Indian - American philosopher Homi K. Bhabha, especially considering his “Third Space acts”. Bhabha formulated that in every environment there are 3 parallel spaces. The first one is where everything relies on you, in the second one you are dependent on everyone else, and the third one is an interspace, a hybridspace, in which something new and happy can be created. A simple example - the first place is your home, the second is your work and the third one is a bar. The third space is the one that protects the chaotic nature of the world. The chaos must be looked after.
“Trinidada!” will be an attempt to go exactly there - to the place where the young and progressive meets the old and backwards, the noble and cultural meets the wild and barbaric. To do that we will go through 3 Bhabha’s spaces, we will eat 3bit, we will cry and sing, and drink beer. The director of this performance is Klāvs Mellis.
In February of 2024 the audience will be invited to a criminal drama for all family “Brūnais siers” (Brown Cheese). The work will be based on a comic by Erlend Loe. As it’s written in Earlend Loe bio: “He has been writing books for children and so-called adults since the harsh 90s.” This comic was co-created with Norwegian artist Kim Yorteijss. The authors created this artwork inspired by “Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie. However, KVADRIFRONS team will get their inspiration from other detective books, detective series, books and stories from “Bez Tabu” (Latvian broadcast, where people can send in their concerns).
Director - Paula Pļavniece.
At the end of the season by collaborating with Riga Zoo and alternative chamber music festival Sanusī KVADRIFRONS will stage performance “Ērces” (Ticks). This large format historical outdoor opera will be played for the whole family, especially preschool and elementary school kids. The performance will tell a story about an insect commune living in a forest in Riga. The commune’s life will totally change when their home will be visited by ticks from other lands.
Director - Paula Pļavniece, libretto - Klāvs Mellis, music - Oļesja Kozlovska.
During this season the director Reinis Boters will create an installation and performative event about forest logging and ecology. This installation will take place sometime in the fall and it will tell a story about deforestation during bird’s nesting time. Although in other EU countries it is forbidden to deforest during the nesting period (April 1 - June 30), in Latvia these restrictions only apply to a small number of forest territories. In Latvian forests as a result of deforestation 50 thousand bird nests are being destroyed every year.
The other event will take the audience closer to the process of deforestation. Reinis and the specialists he interviewed pointed out that people mostly see the forest before and after the change, however the process of deforestation remains a secret. Through a video stream the audience together with the creative team will have a chance to see Latvian nature and deforestation in a close up.