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In a strange club of theatre freaksJaunais Rigas Teatris is a regular state repertory theatre, with a small troupe of actors — only fifteen, explains Alvis Hermanis, director and artistic director for the theatre. - Being a state theatre company, we can afford to not care about the commercial side. We somehow manage to be inbetween the idea of a big theatre factory making a product called theatre or independent companies struggling to survive. We are more like a studio and can afford to rehearse a play for half or even one year, which is very exceptional in Latvia, admits Alvis and continues. - Professional theatre in Europe is in a very unstable situation. It is so much part of consumer society. The question is; what role should theatre play in our world — is it elitarian or entertaining? As I see it — theatre will be the only form of art escaping electronic transformation and therefore staying ecological. Theatre needs real physical contact between artists and spectators. This makes the position of theatre very special. - Do you think theatre is an inherently conservative form of art, asks Annika referring back to the discussion she took part in on the previous day. - Depends on. I would say that other forms of art are coming closer to theatre. Visual artists are looking for storytelling and physical presence in their work. Those are the two things that theatre always has been about, answers Alvis. - If, in the 20th century theatre was a very democratic form of art, in the 21st century when people are looking for entertainment, theatre is the last place to go. You don't look for ideologies in theatre, either. Theatre will obviously loose all impact on society. I never looked at theatre as a tool for improving the world. I think that theatre needs to be a pure art-form. - Not a comment on society then, comments Annika - Let's face it. Art has lost all influence whatsoever on society. The majority of ordinary people in consumer society have other kind of performances: tv and footboll. Money for art is diminished in most countries, look at France or Germany and also Latvia. The tendency is the same all over. - But there are quite a few structures supporting art, says Annika - Yes, but I predict that the more prosperous a society becomes — the less it cares about art, comments Alvis - You are just finishing touring, what do you think about the locality of theatre? Asks Annika - Theatre will always be local and should be rooted in a local context. There is something un-natural about theatre going abroad. It is good for exchange of information. But when we are preparing our performance, we communicate with people living in Riga. It is not always a bad thing to tour. But I really do not understand what goes on in the mind of the affluent audience at the Salzburg festival when they are looking at our Inspector General, that is made about the Sovietunion. But somehow they communicate with what they are seeing, says Alvis and pauses. - I find festivals and guest performances double-edged. In a way it is fun, important and even pedagogical to see what is happening in different places, but it is also like a shopping expedition. I take a little from here and a little from there, ponders Annika after a while. - Exactly. Thinking about international networks, they remind me of a strange internet club of some theatre freaks. There are many festivals in Europe, but we are actually a group of very few people who know each other. This is the only way to survive in the future — to build small communities. Today — there is no difference of where you are living, everybody has access to exactly the same information.Geography doesn't matter anymore, says Alvis - That means that the aesthetics are becoming more alike, answers Annika - That is the flip side, the cost we are paying. It is like us here — we are talking something called English, but it is not English at all. But, more important than the language you are speaking is whether you have something to say. Then language doesn't matter, ends Alvis.
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Alvis Hermanis in a discussion during the Baltic Circle 2000’s |
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