Performance-Trip Cargo-Sofia
On 7 November, Stefan Kegi, the director of Rimini Protokoll, came back to Riga with his latest performance-trip Cargo-Sofia. Seats for the audience were in a truck, and Riga’s night streets, petrol stations and ports served as the stage. Similarly to the first evening of the performance, and on the following six times, the trip started on the Market-place of Andrejsala. The leading roles were played by the last highway nomads – the Bulgarian truck drivers Vencislav Borisov and Nedjalko Nedjalkov.
S. Kegi (1972) is a creator and participant of the German/Swiss directors’ union Rimini Protokoll. The group has visited Riga once, when especially for the New theatre festival Homo Novus, in the former Riga City Council’s building, there was staged the documentary theatre performance Cameriga. S. Kegi has studied visual arts in Zurich as well as drama in the Gussen Institute of Theatre in Germany. He has worked with local people and artists in Argentina, Brazil, Latvia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Germany and Poland and offered the audience motorcycle tours, quizes, pet ceremonies and bus trips. In 2005, S. Kegi created the performance Mnemopark in the Basel theatre, which was awarded the prize of the festival Politik im freien Theater.
Big Ball House Party
On 10 November, the Andrejsala’s Carpenter’s Workshop (club Colonel) hosted a positive and sunny house music event Big Ball House Party, which gathered the best Latvian DJ’s.
The Bitch of the Baskervilles
On 18 and 19 November, the Andrejsala’s Welding Workshops (Dirty Deal Cafe) hosted the performance The Baskerville Bitch directed by Dace Dumbrava, which is to be considered a significant step towards her quest in the innovative theatre genre. The performance was based upon the motives of the play by Hermanis Paukšs The Baskerville Hound and narrated about invisible companions during his lifetime – mystical creatures “bitches”, and the influence thereof on the individual.
The performance can be characterized as unconventional and non-academic, an otherwise structured theatre performance, in which the spectator has a similarly important role as any creator of the performance. Borders between the audience and the creators of the performance, which are more characteristic of the traditional theatre, within the context of The Baskerville Hound are faded and sometimes hardly visible, as it is interwoven with the search of common language with the audience. The production targets youth, as it had been envisaged originally!
The director of the performance, D. Dumbrava, has created it with the company of volunteer non-actors and a non-professional troupe.
Pop Music Concerts
On 24 November, the Welding Workshop (Dirty Deal Cafe) and Carpenter’s Workshop (club Colonel) simultaneously hosted two pop music concerts. In the Welding Workshop, there performed the German-Polish band The Fight, and the audience was roused by punk rockers 62IP from Saldus and the instrumental experimental music representatives Danga (Valmiera, Rīga). In the Carpenter’s Shop, there also reigned a funny and entertaining atmosphere, but the content of the concert here was totally different. On the stage, one by one there appeared the rapper Šalle (The Scarf), syntpop musicians Svešie (The Strangers) and the performance artists Savādie aprīļa ķirši (The Odd April Cherries).
Celebration of Name Day of Andrejsala
On 30 November, for the second time in succession, hundreds of Rigans and guests gathered in the South End of Andrejsala to celebrate the name day of Andrews, Andrejses, Andrises, and, of course, that of the Andrejsala.
The celebration program was broad and interesting, various artistic activities were held in almost all South End buildings, and guests did not have time to get bored. During the name day celebrations, three exhibitions were opened, and they were on display until mid-December, the Laboratory of Stage Arts organized the pilot festival of international level movement theatre, ethnic minority ensembles presented their performances, too, and Signe Baumane, a Latvian animator living in the United States, arrived in Riga to offer her story, while artists organized open-day events, thus familiarizing festival guests and participants with their works.
For more details on the event and the photographs please go here.
