Sketches stored in a suitcase for a long time, which have come to light, a message stuck together from individual fragments of ideas – such an unusual material has not been the origin of any show in Latvian theaters for a long time. But that’s exactly how your new production is Baltic army In the National Theater, the director and set designer Reinis Suhanovs, whose voice comments during the performance, comments on the personality of the author of the notes – cartoonist and graphic artist Edgars Ozoliņš – and the circumstances of the discovery of his legacy.
The authorship of the production is indicated as a joint work of the creative team, Valters Sílis has been hired as a dramaturgy consultant. However, it is precisely the lack of dramaturgy twist that is the weak point of the show, which is presented as a purposeful stylistic technique (“we try to maintain a certain rhythm of the notebook collage”, the director writes in the program).
Let’s multiply for Latvia!
Edgars Ozoliņš’s remarks in the Soviet years model an alternative history, in fact a utopia, in which the refugees of the three occupied Baltic states establish a colony in Iceland and gradually increase in number and military power, to then occupy and liberate the homeland by landing. But this utopia is grotesque, in which the number of emigrants in the land of exile increases thanks to hypertrophied sexuality. To swell the ranks of would-be liberators of the homeland, the show’s semi-anonymous characters deal with what a group of exiles during the revival Robis and the Latvians formulated in the title of the song Let’s multiply for Latvia. Pregnant women are everywhere – they participate in sports games and comment on the Song Festival parade, in which a suspiciously large number of participants represent song and dance groups of military units. Thus, the idea of the rebirth of the Latvian nation in emigration unexpectedly takes on a rather grotesque shape. It was at this moment that a skilled playwright’s hand would have helped, so that the play did not crumble into comic scenes, which were apparently created as a result of joint sketches.
It is possible that the concretization of the characters would have helped, even though Edgars Ozoliņš’s materials do not offer such a unifying thread of the plot. A more detailed presentation of the author’s own biography could possibly become such, showing those works of his that are being prepared for printing at this time, because tragicomic curiosities also happen in this regard, as with the drawings of sex poses for the book by Jānis Zālīš, which has become a legend In the name of love. Or to come up with some other dimension that would make this story something more than just a comic with live actors, which is exactly what it is currently intended to be.
Edgars Ozoliņš’s utopia production inevitably draws parallels with Marjus Ivaškevich’s play staged by Rima Tumin in 2004 Madagascar In the Little Theater of Vilnius, which was also shown in Latvia. It also deals with the idea of an alternative, parallel homeland, only in a much more elaborate form with a branched system of characters. It was a powerful production with a long, happy stage life and a tragicomic scope. Reinas Suhanov’s goals are more down-to-earth, it is not for nothing that the genre of the show is “comic lecture”.
The intrigue of what exactly is in Edgars Ozoliņa’s archive and how much of it the director used remains unresolved until the end, when once in the text of the program he admits that this material not only appeals to wit and love for the people, but also “tests the limits of my political correctness”. After reading it, one has to wonder if what we see in the New Hall of the National Theater also tests any limits (it may be that the scene in the sauna worries some viewers – we won’t tell you).
A bit of an awkward society
Reini Suhanov has had two tasks: on the one hand, to create a message from sketches and notes, and on the other hand, to find a way to present it visually, preserving the artist’s style. In cooperation with the costume designer Ilzi Vītoliņu, the second task was convincingly accomplished by creatively using cushions and wigs – aids that must be used with deliberation and a clear purpose, as in this case. The forms of the actresses Evija Kruze and Madara Zviedre have been “improved” in the chest and bottom area, while Ivars Kļavinskis and Roman Bargaj have just enough prop wigs to make them look like they stepped out of Edgars Ozoliņš’s cartoons. Later in the play, the actors change characters countless times, moving from scene to scene and ending with the perfect Baltics dressed in military uniforms going to liberate the occupied homeland. Since the playing field needs to be neutral enough to ensure a smooth transition from one scene to another, this is solved with an oval platform that can be fixed but can also be rocked – as needed.
The ensemble of actors keeps the rhythm well and engages in this event ironically and adventurously. The ever-changing array of characters is funny, often touching, with costumes and wigs being changed in a flash. It’s such a bit of an awkward society, but the author of this review did not perceive the comparison with the imaginary emigration as a parody of the real exile and the current diaspora. The fact that someone might think so comes to mind much later, but not at the moment of viewing. I don’t want to single out any of the quartet of actors who played well with each other, but one thing must be said – it’s good that Madara Zviedre is returning to Latvian theater. This actress is still suitable for the National Theater.
While comfortably amused about what could have been, if it had been, the very idea of the liberation of the Baltics also turns into a kind of joke. We do know that no one launched any sorties over Ķekava, because there was no such alternative in the Baltic Iceland (by the way, a relatively large Latvian diaspora lives there now, already in the third decade of the XXI century). Perhaps, as a counterpoint, today could be marked, when there has been talk of a demographic hole for years. However, if we do not expect apples from the tree, Baltic army gives us a lively evening in pleasant company. Who said it’s small?
BALTIC ARMY
In the New Hall of the National Theater on 27 IV, 5, 13, 25 V, 5 VI at 18.30
Tickets Ticket paradises in the network EUR 28–30