Twelve actresses play in the play, whom we see at the very beginning of the action. Basically, every female role could be highlighted because the characters are developed thoroughly.
Publicity photo (Kristapa Kalna).
Maija Svarinska, “Kultūrzīme”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”
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By staging Lucy Kirkwood’s play “Heaven” at the National Theater, director Valters Sílis has entered a new stage of his creative work.
The premiere of the National Theater “Heaven” interested me from the start, because the talented director Valters Sílis, who usually does not position himself in front of the public, for the first time so actively shared his thoughts about his work on the dramaturgical material, about his goal “to make people step into sacred time and ask themselves questions that everyday there is not enough time”. I don’t know if Lucy Kirkwood’s play was his own choice or the recommendation of literary advisor Ieva Strukas, but the title of the play already hints at the vertical parameter of its framework.
British playwright Lucy Kirkwood, born in 1983, now, at the age of forty, has already achieved real popularity in Western culture. Probably the topics she chose also contributed to this. As an example, I will name the play “Children” by L. Kirkwood, which also touches on a topical issue of today: mutual relations between different generations, mutual rights and obligations. I mention this play because I once saw it in a production by Elmo Nyganen at the Tallinn City Theatre.
But the action of the play “Heaven” takes place in 1759, when the law is still accepted in legal proceedings: the culprit must be hanged for the crime, which could be either murder, theft or even illegal cutting of a tree. The play specifically investigates a crime in which a defiant boyfriend is accused of complicity in murder. However, she claims that she is expecting, in which case she should not be hanged. Twelve women selected by the court were asked to clarify this question, because at that time men were happy to leave such intimate problems to women.
Therefore, twelve actresses play in the play “Heaven”, which we see at the very beginning of the action.
Scenographer Ieva Kauliņa has created a very expressive design, namely a square elevation across the entire width of the stage, which at certain moments, a la candlelight (lighting artist Oskars Pauliņš) and accompanied by music (composer Edgars Raginskis), slowly circles and sometimes tilts.
In these turns, we get to know each of the heroines who perform this or that daily work in front of us. For example, Maija Doveika’s Elizabete Luka is pressing a knob of butter, even though the program states that she is squeezing the washed laundry on a roll. So be it! But Dace Bonāte’s Judīte Brewer squeezes wrinkles out of linen sheets with an ironing stone, Ināra Slutka’s Charlotte Carey polishes pewter dishes, Sandy Dovgāne’s Kitty Givens scrubs the floor with brushes and sand, Evia Kruze’s Helen Ludlow torches a dress, Daigas Gaismina’s Sarah Hollis kicks deep clouds of dust from the carpet , Dita Lurina’s Emma Jenkins washes her husband’s shirt collar, Sanita Paula’s Anna Lavender wraps a baby, Agnes Budovska’s Mary Middleton kneads bread while rocking a cot with her foot, Ieva Anina’s Hanna Rasted carries buckets of water with a litter, Indra Burkovska’s Sara Smith plucks a pheasant, while Liene’s Sebres Peg Carter sweeps the floor and ceiling with a broom.
Kristine Pasternak’s costumes are also impressive – aube, elegant hats and beautifully embroidered dresses, which especially emphasize the femininity of each.
The dramatic action begins with a dialogue between Elizabeta Luka and Mr. Kūmza, played by Kaspars Aniņš. He has come not only to hang around frivolously, but also to persuade Elizabeth to help decide the fate of an accused woman named Sally Poppy, that is, to find out if this girl is really pregnant, because that is what M. Doveick’s heroine, being a midwife, could understand best.
In addition, she would also gather the required jury pool of twelve women. Elizabeth agrees, and now we see this whole group of women who must decide Sally’s fate. Sally, played by Elizabete Skrastiņa, stands aside, waiting for the fateful decision.
Publicity photo (Kristapa Kalna).
According to the traditional image of the image of the company of women, talk about this and that begins, which, of course, eventually leads to emotional contemplation of various events and condemnation of negations. In the universe – talking, reprimanding and at the same time gnashing of teeth and laughter. To be honest, it all seemed to me to be chatter, which the actresses played very gaily. Only M. Doveick’s Elizabeth really caught the attention, as a special subtext will ask in her determination to prove that Sally is pregnant. Not just a joke, but an increasingly full-blooded image of a mother – a mother who was ready to do anything just to save her daughter.
The second act of the play intrigues more.
Thanks to the actresses, whose game has organically responded to the director’s point of view, destinies arise. For example, a brilliantly portrayed Charlotte Carey. Ināra Slucka, being a talented director herself, revealed in the character of her heroine a deep struggle with her own conscience and the truly bitter fate experienced by a woman who is manipulated by the powerful of this world.
Daiga Gaismiņa also created an expressive image. For a long time, her Sarah Hollis mute moves around the stage like a wreck, answering questions only with a nod of the head, because this woman, having experienced violence, has lost her voice. In the course of the action, she, having overcome her psychotraumatic crisis, reveals the pain of the heroine’s deep experience.
Basically, every female role could be highlighted with a detailed description of the nuances, because the characters are developed thoroughly. True, I was not always convinced by E. Skrastiņas in the role of Sally, because it seemed that the fear of death did not really bother her. Sometimes, on the other hand, I was surprised by the exaltation and also the pace of speech, such as forced proficiency, especially as if to emphasize the low origin.
The play is coming to an end, when M. Doveik’s character, passionately fighting for the fate of her daughter Elizabeth, gets the positive vote of all twelve women. But revenge is coming. When everyone disperses, a high-born lady dressed in black appears and, after giving a bribe to Mr. Kooms, whispers something in his ear. He also does what he’s told by kicking Sally so that she loses the baby.
Apparently, this is how the rich woman “redeems” her son’s sins.
Now the heroine of E. Skraštinas really wants to die, but her mother tries to comfort her, although she understands that the gallows is already waiting for her daughter. Emma, the heroine of Dita Lūrina, suddenly appears, who forgot her knife here. Again the theme of death is played for a long time, and we again have to wait a long time for the knife to be used. No. Everything happens differently. With a raised head, watching the sky…
It’s getting dark. After that, a new year lights up at the back of the stage: 2061. Again a square elevation circles in front of us, again we see the same people engrossed in their various daily activities, only their clothes are like robots, stylized leveled, colorful, but uniform.
Come on, find out what will be in fashion then? But what about the rest? Valters Sílis is worried and asks: will everything really continue like this? Really disturbing.
All that remains is to pray, as the women of the 18th century did, that we preserve our humanity under heaven, our ability to be compassionate and love one another.
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