"We live in a world of global market economy. How has this fact affected theatre (in Finland - in Latvia)? Is there a global market for theatre ­ in international theatre festivals, for instance? Can you see the results of the global market atmosphere in the upcoming generation of directors and authors?
Has theatre (in Baltic countries, where there are many touring companies) lost its local character, and, if not, how was the threat defeated? Why is Finnish theatre so rarely seen in the international festival scenes?
Is it "too local"?
How has the international networking and/or touring affected you and your work?
What would be an ideal situation for you as a theatre artist to work internationally?"

JOHANNA: So, I thought about this topic of globalisation. Of course this is a very huge theme ... but, I would say that the festival theatre is a form of globalization in theatre. Earlier we had only local theatre, no global market, now we have the global market and the local theatre. So what is this - is it like a new form of art, or is it only a market place to show your work? Is the way of being successful nowadays that you get festival invitations? (Lauris smiling, nodding his head) I’d like to start the discussion with Antti. Yesterday you said that I've come here only because of the free trip. Of course it is a festival function, you can travel, and you meet people...

Festivals are nonsense

ANTTI: Yeah it was a joke but I really do think that these festivals are nonsense.
Maybe this is too religious a quotation, but Mother Theresa, when she was asked by some journalist, "How can I help the poor, how can I join your work?"  Mother Theresa said that you can help by doing good in your own family, in your own circle. Do good there; don't come here to ask me how to help.

JOHANNA: So you are for the local theatre?

ANTTI: Basically it is so, that if you try to achieve something significant in your own work... the most important thing in my opinion is to touch people - and when you do that, it really doesn't matter if you travel... well ok, there are some people who don't have a home, who are wandering around, so maybe their home is traveling... but if you do significant work, you should do it where you are. That's the way I see it. There is nothing wrong with traveling around, but it costs a lot of money and I really don't see the point.

JOHANNA: Ok. Lauris?

LAURIS: Well, I haven't thought about it... I agree with Antti one hundred, two hundred per cent. We have an example here... the director understood from the very beginning, that he will go for the festival movement and he will export, will market himself in such a way; the title of the performance was in English and so and so –

ANTTI: Yeah.

LAURIS: - his theatre was one of the very very rare experimental theatres, not a state theatre- and now, after three years, his theatre is closed. They started very big and now have lost everything. So this is one such an example... it's working vice versa, when you are thinking other things, not theatre and what you are doing. This performance we are showing now it was totally made for these people here in Latvia, we had absolutely no idea to go somewhere. I had very big quarrels with my producer, when she said that we'll go, and I said, no, I can't...

JOHANNA: Why? You just don't want to take it anywhere?

LAURIS: Because it was made in a very special place and it is very big problem to make it in another place. I had no such an idea to go somewhere, because I had an idea of what I want to show and why I want to show it. And I was surprised afterwards that not only it was working for the audience it was planned for, but also foreigners are coming and they are very impressed. You never know. But it is also the same - if you are doing, you must not think about it.

It's a wonderful text, but you can't do it in Finland

JOHANNA: There is another side to that. I read your script, and - I am not being polite - I really was touched by it. But it is very local story, very Latvian story. It's a wonderful text, but you can't do it in Finland, because the main problem is too different.  So the only way for the Finns to see this performance is through festivals. So isn't it great that you can have a totally different audience? Who are also local people, there?

LAURIS: It's of course great. Even if they can understand let's say fifty per cent. Because this global... I think it is almost impossible to write down something "global"

ELINA: Yes, start to write something thinking this will travel around.

JOHANNA: But isn't it very tempting? Maybe I am stupid or something, but isn't it tempting that you could live in that kind of world, to meet other professionals, to travel... It is not tempting at all?

If you are a professional playwright, you don't have to leave home

ANTTI: Not for me. At all. The traveling part - after two weeks in the hotel (with a very serious expression, looks at Johanna over his glasses)... so if you make a living with that it is very boring. If you are a professional tennis player, you have to travel, but if you are a professional playwright, you don't have to leave home.

JOHANNA: What about Elina, as an actress?

ELINA: Ummm…

JOHANNA: Would you like to see Q Theatre traveling a bit more?

When you are abroad you can clearly observe your own work

ELINA: No, no. It would be nice to take part in some festivals, but for me - I am the member of the Baltic Circle Artistic Planning Group - it has been a great opportunity as an actress to travel around festivals and meet people. So I guess that has been the most important thing for me in the Baltic Circle Festival...of course to show to people plays but to organize a place for discussions, to function as a meeting place. I have realized that I don't usually meet actresses here in the festivals - they are usually directors or producers who are the invited guests. For me traveling and seeing good performances or bad performances helps to develop my own work. When you are somewhere abroad you can see your own work clearly.

In Finland theatre is very local, we don't need... we have so much audience. We have 5,5 million inhabitants and last year they sold 3,5 million tickets to the theatre. So we don't have that problem with the audience. In every city there is an institutional theatre house.

JOHANNA: But there is another side to that. There are also these marginal theatres. They don't have audience, because they don't have big production systems. For them the traveling..

ELINA: Is important...

JOHANNA: But their problem is that they are not doing it because there is no production system for that either. I would like to know about Latvia. Do the marginal theatres have local audience? Or are there any marginal theatre?

LAURIS: There is one very interesting sentence in your paper: "...in Baltic countries, where there are many touring companies".  It's not true!

JOHANNA: Ok.

LAURIS:  There are NO touring companies at all!

JOHANNA: You mean in Latvia?

LAURIS: In Latvia. It's a very strange situation. Firstly, it's very small money. There is no marginal theatre such as we know... People here are divided into Latvians and non-Latvians...

JOHANNA: Non-Latvians means Russians?

LAURIS: Yes. So Latvians go to their own and Russians go to their own theatres. Very little audience... So we can't make a different system as there was during the Soviet times, this repertoire-theatre system.

JOHANNA: Because of financial issues?

Theatre means house!

LAURIS: Yes, because of finances and the psychology of our audience. I have created an alternative theatre twice. The first time was 1986, when Soviet Union still existed. And at that moment it was rather easy: because it was SOMETHING alternative! It was totally sold out, it was crazy! And we were fools, I went to Moscow to study... and we quit. But now, for the second time, me and my producer created an alternative, private theatre five years ago. And it is crazy hard. Our audience is used to going into a "theatre building". Theatre equals theatre building! They don't care about the play! And if there is a theatre company without a building, one that is working in different locations, it is a very hard job to inform people about the performances and sell tickets. So this part is even more expensive than rehearsals, creating the play itself! In fact, it is almost impossible to create a touring company with regular actors. I know there is one in Estonia, but half of their repertoire is based on child audience. In Latvia there is none. I can't even say that I am optimistic about this. Maybe there will be changes, but maybe we do not need to change anything... I don't know.  It can also develop in this way... At the moment it is ok for me.  It's the peculiarity, that I can make the theatre that I want and I can take the best actors that there are in Latvia, the BEST OF THE BEST. They are coming to my theatre because they want to do something else.

ANTTI: Mmm.

LAURIS: They like to meet other people, to have contact with other actors and so on. This is the only way to survive in smaller companies.

ANTTI: How is it possible for these actors if they are working in a repertoire theatre to come and work with you?

LAURIS: It's very hard of course. We can't have rehearsing periods that last for, let's say, two months. We can rehearse for a very short period of time. It's crazy nervous, it's MORE than nervous. Also during this Polar Bear I thought five times that it's enough, let's close this... Because there were three actors from three theatres in three cities. It was possible to manage, but not in very big quantities...

JOHANNA: Is your theatre the only alternative theatre here or are there other minor theatres?

LAURIS: I think one very good example is this Alvis Hermanis'...

JOHANNA: Mmm.

LAURIS: ...Jaunais Rigas Teatris. It's state owned, but at the same time it's alternative.

JOHANNA: Mmm.

LAURIS: But this is... mm..mm... it's only because of Alvis Hermanis. He is a person who needs this theatre. You know, no one trusted him for ten years. I also - I mean I REALLY like him, I Think he is a REALLY good director-

JOHANNA: Mmm.

LAURIS: but during the first few years I also thought I CAN'T TRUST HIM... (All laugh)

You must have a dream!

LAURIS: But he is working hard and this is a unique experiment and he has survived up to this point. And in fact JRT is THE alternative theatre here, even if it's state owned. Maybe we don’t need anymore of those small groups...

JOHANNA: So what about the young people that you teach? What is their future? What happened with the first course?

LAURIS: In fact they are doing rather good. Out of the eight people six of them are working - but in theatre only two... But in Latvia, in a small country, two is ok, it's really good. Three people are working in TV. Earlier there were no writers at all. I am really happy that I have new colleges. Our historical situation is also very strange. Fifteen years ago, I was the only writer and the youngest one, because the people who worked during the Soviet times stopped writing totally, hundred per cent. Because earlier it was a different reality, it was either propaganda or anti-propaganda, and now... So I was totally alone and I needed, in fact I NEEDED this group of people who can work together with me and we can together become better...

ELINA: To share things?

LAURIS: Yeah.

JOHANNA: You said that the new course is totally different. What are the prospects for the people who will graduate in a few years? Is the situation going to change, are there going to be small alternative theatres? Maybe if someone would even like to travel with the festivals? Or is it so that people who can’t find a job in theatre or TV will do something else?

LAURIS: Ummmm....

JOHANNA: What is your dream?

LAURIS: What is my dream... (laughs)

JOHANNA: You are teaching them, so you must have a dream.

"You do know what real life is alike? Go away and do something else!"

LAURIS: I am very cynical. Once a week I am telling them "You do know what real life is alike? Go away and do something else!" But they don't trust me and they are trying to do this... My ideal of course is that some of these people would work strong... I am now rehearsing a play by one of my students who is NINETEEN years old and it is such a crazy play! I told him I want to direct this and now I am.

ELINA: So they are really young, your students?

LAURIS: Yes. I try not to take very young students, but... And this experiment is surprising, because NINETEEN years old! It is impossible to write a good play at this age, but he wrote a REALLY, really good play. 

ELINA: Can I ask how many girls and how many boys?

LAURIS: One and one.

ELINA: One-one?!L. Two people, yes. In fact…

JOHANNA: No, no, on your  course.

ELINA: Yes, on the course.

LAURIS: Aa... half and half.

JOHANNA: So... Antti, you are the artistic director for Q Theatre where there are two stages. There is the big stage and then there is the small stage. For visitors.

ANTTI: Yes.

JOHANNA: And you are the one who is more or less making the decisions on who is coming, aren't you?

ANTTI: Yes.

JOHANNA: So do you take any artistic responsibility or do you take everyone who would like to come? Do you see this as a possibility?

ANTTI: Yes, it's a possibility for groups…

JOHANNA: No no, I mean a possibility for Q Theatre!

ANTTI: For Q Theatre? To do what?

JOHANNA: To… to kind of have an alternative scene where you could take groups based on a certain artistic plan. That here we have our "own" stage and here is "THE OTHER" stage.

ANTTI: I don't see it like that. It's an open stage for those who have the courage and the enthusiasm to produce a play. They will get a chance to do it there. I only deal with the logistics: when, for how long and so forth. I have said NO TO NOBODY.

LAURIS: Who is paying for this?

ANTTI: They pay themselves. They have to pay 450 euros a week.

JOHANNA: So they don't only need enthusiasm and courage but also money.

ANTTI: Yes.

LAURIS: That's ok. But who is paying for the theatre itself?’

ANTTI: Oh for our theatre? We have government and city funding and our own ticket sales.

ELINA: We are a small theatre, there are only 200 seats.

In Riga it is almost impossible to make alternative theatre

LAURIS: Yeah but the answer to the question why it is almost impossible to make alternative theatre here in Riga is because it is impossible to FIND a place where to play even for a hundred people. In this "capitalism" it is so expensive and nobody - like the city or something - thinks that they must pay for these to work in an alternative theatre. NOBODY.

JOHANNA: So where do you get support from?

LAURIS: (makes an expression on his face that says "from nowhere")  That's why this theatre has no permanent place. We are going to play in very different locations... But of course for me it's ok and it's a very creative way of making theatre.

JOHANNA: Mmm.

LAURIS: But in fact it's not very good because for a young man, if he has a good idea, it is impossible for him to realize it.  I can't even imagine HOW HE CAN do it.

ANTTI: In fact when we started in 1990 there was an economical depression and all the locations in Helsinki, except in the city centre, were bankrupt; they were for sale or for rent. People were putting up strip bars –

LAURIS: Yeah.

ANTTI: and things like that because they were the only places that people thought that they will get money from. So we got this place which used to be an old cinema...and it used to be empty for several months. We paid next to nothing. Some time ago they asked us why do you pay rent when you can buy it… You take a loan and you pay the same amount of money, but it is yours. That's what we did.

LAURIS: In Riga it's not like that ((laughs)!

ELINA:  I think our theatre was lucky –

ANTTI: We were very lucky...

ELINA: We were very lucky from the beginning. But still, we are not getting paid that much and all the actors must work for other institutions, like TV, cinema, and other theatres. It is very hard to make a living at Q theatre. But still, we were the last "group theatre" that got into the theatre law. So we are paid according to the law. But after that it has been very hard for small group theatres to get into the law.

JOHANNA: When you, Lauris, had your first alternative theatre and you were looking for a place, was it a problem to find it then?

LAURIS: Back then we thought that there is a problem. In fact, there was NONE.  And now it is a real problem. We had such a marvellous places at that time... but we were like "OH NO, this does not suit us AT ALL"  (All laugh) Because we were used to these big repertoire theatre stages and we couldn't imagine other kind of things...

Maybe another recession is needed or another era of communism...?

JOHANNA: So, You mentioned that you couldn't imagine how a young man would handle this situation now... AND it's the same in Helsinki, there are lots of groups that are "in the corner" because the rents are so high that you can't rehearse and so on. Maybe another recession is needed or another era of communism...?

LAURIS: Yeah, but we can also say that nobody wants to do it AND there is no place for it. It's an idiotic situation. It's also for me. Let's say I want to make something bigger, not these small things in different places. So I go to Alvis Hermanis theatre and so he gives me his hall.... I don't have an opportunity to get something else.

ELINA: What happens when a theatre student graduates from  the school? Do they all join a  repertoire theatre or are there freelance actors?

LAURIS: It's very strange. Something like 80 per cent  are taken in to work as actors.  Maybe in some three or four years they leave and young men are taken in… But at this moment I am very surprised that a lot of the acting students who graduate are really working as actors. In fact, we need more young actors. I was looking for young actors for a performance and it was rather hard.

JOHANNA: Now you are teaching playwriting in all the Baltic countries. So what is the situation with the texts, do directors use new drama or is it always the same shakespeares or checovs?

LAURIS: We are at this point when things will change. Because now theatres don’t trust our new playwrights. Old playwrights are not writing.  But I am sure, that after five more years people will write a lot for our theatres.

JOHANNA: So the theatres are interested?

LAURIS: They are, but they are interested in something extraordinary, not in this normal process. "Let's stage something Latvian", so to say - they are not interested. Only extraordinary texts.

JOHANNA: Such as?

LAURIS: Such as Inga Abele’s, who is very strong. But it is very difficult to have an extraordinary writer every year!

ELINA: Yes!

We need not jump higher than we can

LAURIS: It's impossible. Like we know that in Russia there are difficulties - in such a big country - to get good new generation playwrights, of course in a small country like Latvia... But I know these people and I am SURE that in five years we will have a very normal situation. And these productions will be unique, let's say "nationally unique".  They will be global, yes, but they will be global because they are very national.  Of course not national in such way as folklore or such, yes, but very much OUR own performances. Ok, it's like films are more global but theatre because of this LANGUAGE problem... First time when I started to think about global theatre was when I was asked by the British Council to go to Edinburgh festival to join a group of people that were looking for plays to take to their countries. Co-productions and etcetera.  And that moment I thought "Wow, these English-speaking people! It's so easy to work for a touring theatre! There are hundreds and hundreds of groups in Britain.  Of course it is possible to go to Australia, America and so on and so on. What we have is nothing, we can't go. Our actor can't go to Helsinki to act, it's impossible! Even to Lithuania! And this is a very specific thing for a small country. And this is also... we need not jump higher than we can... It looks bad.  And the second thing is the bad result.

JOHANNA: But then there is this side... I’ve read your play, which I would not have read if it wasn't coming to our festival.... since the film is a global - well, we can discuss if it is a form of art or not - but anyway it is a global form. And theatre is local. We can see films from all over the place, but it is so interesting to see performances. They are more human, because they are local. Like your story of the Latvians sent to Siberia. So, I would really like to see, if not more performances visiting different festivals, to get more texts from more "exotic" places. Or to see Finnish texts spreading to other countries.  How do you feel about this, Antti?

I think there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the line -
mainly in the Finnish film industry

ANTTI: I went to Wales some years ago. It was Arista 2002 workshop for twelve days. We had a lot of English and American producers. Mainly film producers. And what they said there... we see film as a global thing, yes, but what is happening now is that... for instance there was "Once were Warriors" from New Zealand and also the Dogma movement... there are films from France, England, Ireland and so on, and they are ALL local stories about the people THERE.  And this has always been the main thing in films. I think there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the line. Mainly in the Finnish film industry. They thought that the change they need to do is to aim at the international market. But it is a misunderstanding. When you write a good story, then it is international.  It's understood everywhere.  If the story is bad, nobody will understand it, it will be dumped. That's how I see it.

LAURIS: I think that we are now in such a situation, when other countries are FORCED TO TAKE BRITISH PLAYS. They are working a lot, they are putting A LOT OF MONEY, making workshops and so and so and so. Like here now two theatres are making The Pillow Man. And (Lauris makes a funny face) I am rather surprised, because this play is totally not Latvian. This British kind of writing and the Latvian theatre... We are VERY different. And for instance this Shopping and Fucking - nobody made it here. In Lithuania one-

JOHANNA: Oskaras Korsunovas.

LAURIS: Yes, he made it because he got money from the British Council for it. And they came to Latvia, after the First Act only one-third of the audience stayed. The British are thinking in different way, it is such "natural" theatre and so on. But. They are marketing. So now - HOW CAN WE MARKET OUR LATVIAN PLAYS abroad? I had an experience of forcing our boys and girls to establish Latvian Drama Agency. Now it is closed.

JOHANNA: Oh really!

LAURIS: Yes, because it was impossible. If we didn’t have a large sum of money to market texts together with performances. Impossible to market the text alone. In the same way I can't understand how I could take some Finnish play if I haven't seen the performance... of course there are exceptions. Inga Abele was an exception, but there was the performance. So everybody went "Oh, yes, it's an interesting text!" But only because of the performance.

JOHANNA: So this is a positive side of the global system, the festival system, that you can see the performances and then become interested in the texts,

LAURIS: Yep.  It is so. That's why in the festivals I am less interested if, let's say, a group from Norway is showing Shakespeare. I would like to see “Ibsen”. Something of their own.

JOHANNA:  I would like to talk a little about the international co-operation productions, when the festivals are producing a play together - the type of production that has such a bad reputation. Before our conversation Elina said something about this topic. Let's hear her again.

ELINA:  Like you take an actor from one country and some others from other countries and the director from somewhere else and then you have already been invited to go to different festivals even before the rehearsing starts?

JOHANNA: Yep.

ELINA: All those types of performances which I have seen have been lousy. Because the idea comes from somewhere else... That's why I referred to the festival as a meeting place. When you meet people in the course of many years and you like his or her work, then maybe an idea will develop. Not that the idea comes from some producer or festival director who says that now we are making this co-operation.

JOHANNA: Lauris, have you seen any good international festival co-operation productions?

LAURIS: I am trying to remember... But if I am TRYING to remember, it means I haven't seen any.

ANTTI, ELINA, JOHANNA: Yes.

JOHANNA: I have this view that the reason why they are always so bad is because it is all based on a structure. You can get MONEY-

ANTTI: Yeah. It's a free ticket. It's a free ride.

No artistic concept and nothing to keep the company together

JOHANNA: So, there is no artistic concept and nothing to keep the company together.

LAURIS: Mmm.

JOHANNA: So this is kind of a structural problem. It's a good idea, to work with new people, isn't it like a lovely idea?

LAURIS, ANTTI, ELINA: Mmm.

JOHANNA: But since it is based on a specific structure, from somewhere there... (makes gestures with her hands which mean that the game is lost from the very beginning).

LAURIS: Maybe it is good if you take a director from somewhere else. I have worked in Estonia with a foreign director and for me it was crazy interesting. It was interesting, because, ok, we are neighbors but we are TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

ELINA: We had one little problematic experience at Q Theatre with one foreign director once. The problem was that he did not understand that Finnish actors rehearse differently than actors in his country.

JOHANNA: So these cultural barriers are not so easy to cross.

LAURIS: Yeah but like you, Elina, said, it's more like a technical barrier. You start to understand, if you are living in a foreign country where you are staging something, for some time.

ELINA: What are the people like...

LAURIS: Yeah but of course it is difficult, it is expensive... To be in the foreign place for two years for one performance!  Living, drinking... then you go, oh no, I don't like this experience!

Why do I always have to go to sauna with these Finns?

ELINA: Yeah you go like why do I always have to go to sauna with these Finns!

JOHANNA: Are there any Latvian plays that are made in Estonia or Lithuania for instance?

LAURIS: Only this Inga Abele's play that was shown in the Baltic Circle Festival 2003.

JOHANNA: Is there anything here in Latvia from Estonia or Lithuania?

LAURIS: From Estonia. There is a good experience with Jan Tatte.

JOHANNA: Isn't he an older writer?

LAURIS: No, no, he is a young guy from Linna Theatre. Alvis Hermanis made one and it is playing for five years now. Alvis himself is playing the main role in that. And it is totally sold out all the time.

ANTTI: Alvis plays in it?

LAURIS: Yes. He is basically an actor. And a terrible good actor. Sometimes I like it even more (laughs) than his directing! …In Estonia they are settling this crisis very very fast and they have a LOT of good writing. I did this workshop that once a month I went to Estonia and the writing there is really really very good. Like in Linna Theatre the actors are writing themselves and they are good actors and good writers. But in Lithuania they also have problems

JOHANNA: What kind of problems?

LAURIS:  There are almost no new writers... there are some, but they are a bit with a question mark... The biggest problem in Lithuania are the very strong directors.
They think: who needs writers – the director is the writer!  And even if someone had written something, the director doesn’t care!

ELINA: Yesterday there was a premiere of Marius Ivaškevičius' play in Helsinki. It's the first Lithuanian play in Finland.

LAURIS: He is a very good writer, but not a very good playwright. Earlier one of his text was staged and - this was this marketing thing, in fact! And directors could see it and they liked it so the play is staged now in different places.

JOHANNA: I would like to see more.... in Finland it is like everywhere, there are these classical texts that are "rewritten" by the directors, or then there are Finnish texts, and then the “global” texts from Western Europe. But it would be so good to get texts from countries other than Britain or Germany and so on.

ELINA: Yeah.

JOHANNA: That is also a big global business that where do you get the texts from. I would like to see more plays-

ELINA: ...from Baltic countries....

JOHANNA: ...new plays from Russia, Sweden... like "our area".  This is also work that needs to be done by someone. So it is really sad that your text agency was closed. It would have been a link here.

LAURIS: In fact there is one man who is working as an agent, but... at the moment I can't say, that OH YES, there is A PLAY THAT YOU MUST STAGE.  Although the one that I am staging now, for younger audience, I would say that it is a good play. Yeah. It is.

JOHANNA: So, you are saying: take this one!

LAURIS: Yes... and it is very GLOBAL. In its heart, it is very GLOBAL.

JOHANNA: And there is also this point that why is Shopping and Fucking  more global than some Estonian play? Why? Why would it be more understandable for a Finn?

Theatre means that your feet are slightly off the ground

LAURIS: Shopping and Fucking is totally not understandable. Absolutely not. Our tradition comes from "Russia" - let's say so.  Theatre is something not natural. Theatre is means that your feet are slightly off the ground. But this British style...

ELINA: They are staging The Pillow Man also in Helsinki now.

JOHANNA: Yeah and you get all these plays...

ELINA: Yeah, they are always staging the new British plays in the National Theatre.

JOHANNA: But it’s not only that they have this big marketing system for the British plays, it's also that the popular culture and films and television... So we are already familiar with the English-speaking culture. We are much more familiar with that than for instance with the Baltic culture or everyday life.

ELINA: In Finnish films there is this bad thing happening that they are trying to make our films look like American films.

ANTTI: Those films will NEVER make the international market.

ELINA: Of course there is Kaurismäki...

JOHANNA: But he is very local!

ELINA: But his movies do not get so much audience in Finland. They are too strange.

JOHANNA: Because we are used to the American style... What do you think, Lauris, is it the same here? Are they trying to make American-like films?

LAURIS:   No, because the budgets are so small.  They are not idiots trying to jump so high! But there is one film now at the shooting stage which they want to (with a darkened voice)  BE GLOBAL. But it is based on a very local history. Will it result in something, I don't know.

JOHANNA: In Finland even the institute where film directing is taught is really focused on the American style. They take in people who are interested in this style... So, I think there is a big system trying to push commercial Finnish films into the global market.

ELINA: Finnish films get a lot of audience now in Finland. They are even speaking about the New Golden Times of the Finnish film. But the problem is that these films are very commercial...

LAURIS: I would be also very happy if we could say so too, but now it is a disaster. We have such small budgets... for all the films we have 1,5 million euros. It's absolutely nothing.

ANTTI: But it is so that one film, which will make it, will be released. A small film. And then everybody goes like: "Oh, but that was what I've been thinking all the time. We have to have Latvian films!"(All laugh)

ELINA: Is there a lot of drama made for television?

LAURIS:  Not very much. Also because of the small market. And then there is this problem in TV: the producer asks for a Latvian story, but such a story, that it can be sold to Finland for instance. But this local TV-directing is of SUCH KIND...

JOHANNA: So, when you say local, you mean bad?

"We are poor, we are poor, and
WE EXPECT MORE FROM THE GOVERNMENT!"

LAURIS: Yes! But it is also that the state owned TV is totally not interested in extra money. "We are poor, we are poor, and WE EXPECT MORE FROM THE GOVERNMENT!" 
And nobody DOES anything!  People have a different mentality in a commercial company...  But in these private TV’s it is of course too expensive to do something. Impossible.  They’d rather buy something cheap.

ANTTI: Yes.

LAURIS: Something with cheap actors, like dogs and cats... By the way, would you like to come to visit the place where I staged Touch the Polar Bear? It is very interesting, because it is in the cellar of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. 

ELINA, ANTTI: Certainly.
JOHANNA: Ok, sounds like a good ending to our conversation. To be continued in November!

The premiere of ARTIS DISCRETE ALISE DISCRETE (directed by Lauris Gundars, written by student Ansels Kaugers)
will take place November 28th, 2005 in Club DEPO, Riga, Latvia


LINKS:

www.drama.lv	Latvian Drama Agency
www.teatristt.lv	Theatre TT, Lauris Gundars’ theatre