The premiere of the show was scheduled for the spring, when the first rehearsal took place, but like many others, it was disrupted by a sudden pandemic. Following all the precautionary rules, the work continued in July and has now been successfully completed.
“I was interested in the theme of the play – the question of the possibility or impossibility of creative freedom, the artist’s independence or dependence on other people’s influences, needs and the role of conjuncture, nationality and political views in the fate of a creative personality,” says director Māra Ķimele. is the third productions at the Liepaja Theater.
An interesting relationship story
Māra Ķimele’s “relationship story” with Liepāja Theater is very interesting. She got there for the first time while studying in the third year of the Moscow Institute of Theater Arts. “I was twenty-three years old, I was a complete jade when I was invited to Liepāja by the then chief director of the Liepāja Theater Nikolajs Mūrnieks (1904‒1977) – to stage the Glass Zoo of Tennessee Williams. When I went to Liepāja to start working on this production, he was no longer the main director of this theater, he was already replaced by Andrejs Migla, »says Māra Ķimele, adding that Nikolajs Mūrnieks both came to the reception and was very supportive, and the director he is still considered his godfather of theater. “It must be said that while working in Liepāja, I always feel his paternal shoulder,” admits Māra Ķimele. “Glass Zoo” was her very first performance. It was 1969. “In my opinion, the show was quite stylish, because the visual design, which we created together with the set designer Andris Freibergs, was poetic, it was a very conditional environment. The audience liked it, but the director of the theater thought that Andris Freibergs and I were not the ones who could perform anything else in this theater. And, although it had been discussed before that I would also stage my diploma thesis there, when I went to the Liepāja Theater in the 4th year of studies, I learned that the theater’s repertoire has already been compiled, but my diploma thesis is not included there. That’s how our collaboration ended, and my directing path turned in a different direction – to Valmiera, »the director recalls her first theater experience.
31 years passed, and Māra Ķimele returned to the Liepāja Theater to perform William Shakespeare’s “Otello”. “In my opinion, this was also a very interesting show – with Mārtiņš Vilsons in the title role and Juris Bartkevičs in the role of Jago. After this production I returned to Riga, continued working, no new invitation followed. I myself will never get stuck myself – I only go where I want to, »says the experienced director.
It’s been 20 years, and Māra Ķimele is in Liepāja again. He gladly responded to the offer of the theater director Herbert Laukštein, and the two agreed on the production of Ivan Viripajev’s play “The Excitement”.
Rich in unexpected twists and turns
Ivan Viripayev (1974) is one of the leading and most outstanding contemporary Russian playwrights, theater and film directors, who has received several awards for his work. The author wrote the play “Excitement” (“Волнение”) in 2019, he also staged the play himself – at the Tovstonogov Theater in St. Petersburg with Alice Freindlich in the lead role. His work is not unfamiliar in Latvia either, but the play “Excitement” was staged for the first time.
Polish journalist Krzysztof Zelinski comes to the world-famous American writer of Polish origin Ulya Recht, an introverted author whose interviews are very rare. Despite the many bans of her daughter and agent in connection with the interview, it develops full of unexpected twists and turns – intertwined with real life facts and myths created by the writer’s creative fantasy.
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In the play, which is full of poetry and subtexts, which talks about love, the meaning of life, art and creation, about the independence or dependence of artists, the main role is given to the actress Inese Kučinska. In other roles: Viktors Ellers, Ilze Trukšāne, Sandis Väljais, Edgars Ozoliņš and Rolands Beķeris.
Set designer Mārtiņš Vilkārsis, costume designer Ilze Vītoliņa and lighting artist Mārtiņš Feldmanis work together with the director.
To make the viewer feel belonging
“Ivan Viripayev is the most famous Russian playwright currently living, who is already well known not only in Europe, but also abroad. Very interesting personality. A very special person. Really very special. I think he is aware of that. He is following the path of his spiritual search, and in his work you can see several influences and directions, »says Māra Ķimele. She has not seen the author’s own production of “Excitement”, so the director has no idea how he sees it on stage.
“The play is difficult for the stage. Very difficult. Viripayev is a distinct textual playwright, and it would be easiest for everyone to sit on one bench and arrange their own text for each – those who have no text will go, and when it comes to speaking, come, sit down and agree. There would be a stylish, modern show that might even get recognition, but I have to say that this style is already twenty years old, and I’m not interested in it. I am interested in the fact that the people sitting in the auditorium feel something, perceive it, feel belonging to the show. Let them be with what is happening on stage. That is why, perhaps a little contrary to Viripayev’s style, we do not create a show so textual, but look more at the main character’s inner life, showing her experiences and relationships with the world and family, “says the director of the new production.
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Māra Ķimele points out that the main character in the play is 77 years old, but, in her opinion, the years are not so important in this story, because the play is conceptual. The story makes sense. “Inese Kučinska, who plays the main role, is, of course, much younger. She is a beautiful actress who is not afraid to be direct and sharp on stage, neither in character nor in her expressions. She is not one of those actresses who always wants to be very beautiful. This is sometimes a problem for both actresses and actors, “the director reveals, saying that there are fifty-year-olds who do not like to be asked to be a little older and weaker. Because they want to be young, “fries” and cool. “Everyone is people, including actors,” the director smiles sincerely, adding that it is the actor’s choice to let him win – either for his own personal needs or for the actor’s nature.
Art – the only free territory
Asked what was the biggest challenge in creating “The Excitement”, Māra Ķimele admits: “The play is very theoretical. I would have liked more freedom from it, but when a person follows an ideology, he is limited in it. But I belong to people who believe that art is the only free territory, and ideally, when a work of art, by offering its own sense of the world, allows its receiver – the viewer, the listener – to draw his own conclusions. Ideology does not allow such a choice, it always requires a specific choice. But art is a free area, a very important area where anyone who enters can make their own choices. In my opinion, freedom is an extremely high level category, and we try to maintain it in this show – not to emphasize the ideological emphasis too much, but simply to allow the viewer to trace the life path, thoughts, feelings and choices of this personality. I very much hope that we have found a way of teaching that will allow this. Yes, the main thing for me is that the show connects with the audience and is appealing to the audience. ”
Tallinn ‒ Liepāja ‒ Riga
After the premiere in Liepaja, Māra Ķimele will finally return to her native Riga, where she will continue working with her students at the Latvian Academy of Culture (LCA). «Elmārs Sņkovs and I have a director course. These are thirteen very talented young people who have to graduate this year. That means there will be thirteen theses, it will be a big job, and I will do it. I very much hope that a large part of them will continue their path and struggle as directors, some will go to “actors”, because our course also includes very talented young people with talent. They are very different young people, and I really hope that some of them will be the future of our theater, ”says Māra Ķimele, Professor of Drama Theater Directing and Acting, who has been working at the Latvian Academy of Sciences since 1997.
The director explains why she says she will finally return to Riga. Because – before working at the Liepaja Theater, she worked for two months in our neighboring country Tallinn, where she staged Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Won” at the Tallinn City Theater. This was the offer of Linnateater’s chief director Elmo Niganen to stage a play with three young actors who have just graduated from university. “He called me not so much as a director, but more as a teacher. He wanted the young people to enter the theater not as tray carriers, but with serious and professionally responsible roles. We did a good job and they did it – they showed themselves very well, »Māra Ķimele feels satisfied.
Don’t stay idiots
But about the situation dictated by the global pandemic around the world, the director says: it is extremely important not to remain idiots. “Today, there are two extreme reactions: some behave like panicky rabbits, getting out of the situation in the most general way and forcing everything to be stopped, banned, eliminated, because – death, death, death! All this is characterized by one word – idiocy. It has no other name. But the others do not panic, look for and also find a solution. For example, the director of Daile Theater, who, having learned that the theater props have a positive “Covid-19” test, at the moment ordered the “Covid-19” test to be 100% for all (!) Theater employees. And when it turned out that everyone was healthy, the next day there was a premiere. Wonderful! Brilliant! » the director welcomes Juris Žagars’ ability to respond adequately to the specific situation.
She says that in Estonia, for example, it is not forbidden to fill auditoriums. “Of course, they follow all the rules of precaution, and carefully record every spectator – by phone, e-mail – also noting who is sitting next to whom. And, believe it or not, there is no case in Estonia that someone was infected in a theater or a concert, »says Māra Ķimele, emphasizing that this is a normal, human-worthy reaction to what is happening. “Let’s hope that we will not make” average arithmetic decisions “either, but we will allow people to judge and decide for each specific situation themselves. One idiot cannot decide for everyone and decide the fate of the whole of Latvia! If you are afraid, stay home, put on a mask and do not go out! You can’t close and ban everything! This is usually done by people who have a stable income and are completely spitting on those who have to support a family for six hundred euros a month. Unfortunately, this is the case. It is cruel and extremely selfish, “says Māra Ķimele.
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