Lauris Gundars: A Renowned Playwright, Director, and Writer in Latvia

Happy anniversary! Friday, November 3

Playwright, director, writer Lauris Gundars. One of the biggest challenges of theater and cinema has always been: finding a good script. They are also lacking in Latvia. Perhaps, in 1983, the young Latvian Television director Lauris Gundars, now a well-known playwright, director, screenwriter and writer in Latvia, faced this problem, and – accustomed to deeply researching all things – came up with the idea of ​​discovering successful dramaturgy formulas himself. Gundars did it, and one of Laura’s most fundamental works is the theory and practice of dramaturgy structures “Dramatika or Rational Poetics” (2009), which was once nominated for the “Diena” newspaper’s award for outstanding event of the year in culture. Since 1997, Lauris has been teaching dramaturgy formulas to screenwriters and playwrights not only in Latvia, but also in: Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, France, Finland, Austria and Turkey. Gundars is the author of more than forty plays and screenplays, as well as a director who has staged both his own and other authors’ plays in theaters in Latvia and Estonia: “When analyzing a play with students – be it Rūdolfs Blaumanis, Gunārs Priede or Harijs Gulbis – I never stop to be happy about the excellent structure of these works and wonder why they are neglected and not staged these days? Not expecting it from other directors, sometimes I throw shame aside and stage it myself,” laughs Lauris. This is how “Cirulīši” was created with Esmeralda Ermali in the main role – mother – in the Daile Theater, “Indrāns”, challenging the Latvian cultural society and entrusting the main role of Indrāntēv to Jānis Jarāns. This is also how the play “Summer of the Younger Brother” was created in the New Riga Theater. Together with his wife, actress and producer Anna Putniņš (by the way, also the daughter of a famous playwright – her father is Pauls Putniņš), Lauris created many shows in their family’s chamber theater “Teātris TT”. The audience still remembers “Tiritomb or the golden fish” with Jakov Rafalsson in the main role. In the program “Congratulations, jubilee!” – lots of behind-the-scenes stories and gorgeous archival footage.

2023-11-03 19:05:00
#Happy #anniversary #Playwright #director #writer #Lauris #Gundars