Company/ Theatre: Jaunais Rīgas Teātris, Riga
Language: Latvian
Author: Alvis Hermanis
Director: Alvis Hermanis
seen on the 14.06.12 in Wiesbaden "New Plays from Europe" festival
Descriptions: Latvians are different. That is what the company of the Jaunais Rīgas Teātris learned when they set out to investigate the essence of Latvia. They found it in the countryside – a place where life is indeed different. A place not affected by the regimentation and classification of EU-regulations. Not yet. Because another result of their research was this: Once the last Latvian grandmother has given up her last cow, this will be the end of the essence of Latvia. An amusing evening of theatre – not least about cows – by Alvis Hermanis’ inimitable company.
what I liked: the way the actresses switched from being a woman to being a cow, as weird as this might sound. They must have really studied cows behaviour and movements otherwise that performance wouldn´t have been so fascinating to watch. Really beautiful images were created on stage too, the focus of the whole evening was much more on the visual side than on the spoken word.
what I disliked: I´m a sensitive soul when it comes to describing scenes that involve grime, blood and slaughterhouses. How good here I could simply turn down my receiver and listen to the foreign sounding Latvian...great to have ears that can switched on/off!
verdict: An opening performance that was new and fresh, nice to look at and could rely on really good actresses - but all in all it didn´t blow my socks off...
This sounds interesting!
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