The demon wants to be loved. Conversation with the creators of the Liepaja Theater performance “Demem” / Article / LSM.lv

The main roles are played by Anete Berke and Egons Dombrovskis. The playwright of the play is Evarts Melnalksnis.

The poem “Demon” by the Russian literary classic Mikhail Lermontov, first published after the author’s death in 1857, tells the story of an expelled angel who is forced to spend his life in loneliness and hatred until he suddenly falls in love with the beautiful girl Tamara. works. The Liepaja theater performance “Demem” begins with a modern environment, where a woman wanders around a copier and reads … Lermontov.

Director Viesturs Meikšāns revealed why he decided to stage the play “Demon”: “It was my old love. Already 10 years ago or earlier in Moscow I saw excerpts from Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Demon”. I was immediately approached by this material. Immediately after the performance, the director read Mikhail Lermontov’s dramatic poem “Demon”. The director thinks that its structure is very convenient for the theater, and also noted that it is one of the most passionate materials he has read.

“All the components are important for this show. All are important. The atmosphere given by the music, the lights, the projections that are all there are together. For me specifically, when I read, musicians play. They just play divinely, they feel it all very well. It makes it so that I can afford it all. I didn’t have to get rid of much. Its music disarms. It allows me to swim, and this translation seems good to me. You know how to say, “Work, work, work and talent.”

I have never thought that I am with poetry “to you”, but here the whole process – attempts in peace and harmony, gave good results.

And for me, poetry is a very big discovery. In general, putting a poem on the stage is extremely difficult, in my opinion, impossible to attract people nowadays. Here is a good key to how to do it, ”said actor Egons Dombrovskis about participating in the show.

Egons Dombrovskis also noted that this show may seem unusual or incomprehensible to people, but during the show you can satisfy the eye, see what the pictures are, satisfy the ear, fantasy, poetry and thinking about it all – just need to give in to it all.

Actress Anete Berķe, playing the show, imagines: “As if we were looking at a woman who has fallen in love, lost her loved one, but has fallen in love again. And maybe looking at him on a daily basis, we wouldn’t be able to tell what’s going on in him, but in this show, “recognized ‘, whereas under the microscope we see what is happening in him. When a person falls in love with him a lot of emotions happen. It’s not like that – I’m just in love, but he has some fears, insecurities, at the same time he flies, he has energy, there are drastic changes of emotions. ” The actress believes that in this case, too, the viewer must think and look for what is happening to the person on stage at that moment.

The artist of the production Monika Pormale has come to work with international and large-scale stage projects, this time the artist can name many people involved in the show, with whom she collaborates for the first time, because for the first time she also works at the Liepāja Theater. “And for the first time the Russian classic Lermontov, and for the first time poetry,” said Monika Pormale. It was a very big challenge, but in this case it could really be like an illustration of Lermontov’s “Demon” and the book edition.

Because for every new place, for every detail of Lermontov so beautifully, wonderfully poetically described, which is in his poetry, there could be nothing less, only more. ”

The artist said that it is difficult to depict the elements of nature on the stage, saying that it is almost impossible, but she was also interested in looking for various associative solutions, improvising on it. There are a lot of scenes in the show that need to be portrayed, such as a monastery, a wedding, mountains and others, which is a challenge. It is interesting to think about all this, as well as to find the multiplicity of the Demon.

The music for the show has been composed by Matīss Čudars. The trio of contemporary jazz music “Auziņš – Čudars – Arutyunyan” is always present in the performance.

Director Viesturs Meikšāns said that 90 percent of the time the show plays music that helps to tell the story. It contrasts with the action of the stage, so that the viewer has an understanding of the inner world that takes place in each image. “It is more of a feeling for us as a team of artists to talk about love, but it is in this aspect of the Romantic era, when the Demon falls in love and is ready to sacrifice all its essence. In fact, it is such a premonition of saving the world.

How easy it is to get out of jealousy, evil, hatred, bad thoughts just by being in love. The demon longs for love, the demon wants to be loved. That’s the main thing we wanted to say. “

Viesturs Meikšāns revealed that he basically wanted to stage a theatrical performance so that it would be easy, interesting for the viewer to watch and listen. “I believe that this is the work of contemporary theater, we are not afraid of such a designation. We work less with text, more with other means of expression, for example, we have video, music, a space that carries a story, a degree of robotisation, we have physics, physiology, very long kiss scenes, which may not be so common in Latvian theater. So that we can physically perceive information with other pores, ”the director explained.

Fire, on the other hand, is the idea of ​​the artist Monika Pormale as the element of Demon. She stated, “This is my interpretation of the presence of the Demon if she is not in physical or human form. Find an appropriate element that is pleasantly warm, cozy, but sometimes very dangerous, rapid and very destructive. ”

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