A new festival in Ventspils will bring together the audience and professionals of contemporary performing arts
30.05.2022 - 08:17
From 3 to 5 May, a new collaboration project “Theatre Festival No. 1” is to be implemented in Ventspils, the Theatre House “Jūras vārti”, and the Ventspils urban environment, which aims at informing the residents of the Kurzeme Region about the most current developments in the field of Latvian contemporary theatre, as well as bringing together the professionals of this field to jointly think about the future of the performing arts, the related issues, and their possible solutions.
The "Theatre Festival No. 1" was created by four collaboration partners - the Ģertrūde Street Theatre, the Rēzekne Theatre "Joriks", the Dirty Deal Teatro, and the Theatre House "Jūras vārti" that share the same vision and desire to collaborate to allow the audience to evaluate not only the best local contemporary theatre performances, but also promising examples of drama, direction, and choreography, for instance, from Eastern European countries.
"We believe that it is important not only to reach the audience of the Kurzeme Region through this festival and to tell them what a contemporary, inclusive theatre and the new performing arts are actually all about, but also to create the festival in general. And we do so, taking into account our different tastes and work styles. What it all comes down to is the fact that we all share the same values and goal - to become one of the most recognised international performing arts platform in the Eastern Europe, where organisations that share our vision can demonstrate their work. On one hand, it is our moment to shine. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to jointly explore our historical bonds and identify any differences and the uniqueness in the world of the contemporary performing arts," explain the festival creators.
The first "Theatre Festival No. 1" will feature four performances that differ from each other in terms of content and genre. The musical - documentary performance "My Neighbour - the Jew" by Krista Burāne and Jēkabs Nīmanis, as directed by Mārtiņš Eihe and demonstrated in the Rēzekne Theatre "Joriks", will be performed on Saturday, 4 July, on the Town Hall Square at 16:00, whereas the Dirty Deal Teatro performance for young people "The Conclave" directed by the director Klāvs Kristaps Košins will be performed in the New Hall of the Theatre House "Jūras vārti" at 20:00. On Sunday, 5 June, in the yard of the building on Annas iela 11, at 13:00, everyone is welcome to enjoy the Ģertrūde Street Theatre performance "The Lost Songs" by Andrejs Jarovojs, Agate Bankava, and Artūrs Čukurs, but in the Great Hall of the Theatre House "Jūras vārti" at 16:00 - the Daile Theatre motion performance "Very Good Minutes" created by the artists Elīna Gediņa, Rūdolfs Gediņš, Krista Dzudzilo, and Reinis Dzudzilo.
The festival programme also features several events not directly related to the performing arts. On Friday evening, the festival guests are invited to join the "Walk with a Local", during which the performing arts professionals will have the opportunity to get to know the city, walking together with a local especially invited for this occasion. On Friday and Saturday, a series of conversations for professionals "Meeting on the Beach" is to take place. On Sunday morning, various artists will invite the locals and city guests to join physical activities and collective exercising. In the afternoon, everyone is welcome to participate in an informal conversation, during which the audience and creators of performances will have the opportunity to share their opinions on the "Theatre Festival No. 1".
The tickets to the performances of the festival are available as of 11 May at all sales points of "Biļešu Paradīze".
The project forms part of the IETM activity "Local Journeys for Change" supported by the European Union as part of the IETM network grant "2022-2024 NIPA: the New International in the Performing Arts". For more information, visit https://www.ietm.org/en/projects/LJC .
