After the seven-year reconstruction of the building, in March 2024 the New Riga Theater (JRT) returned to its historical home, but only this autumn the first truly full-fledged JRT season began in the renovated building at 25 Lāčplēša street, for which the architect Zaiga Gaile recently received the “Grand Prix” of the Latvian Architecture Year at the award ceremony.
Half a year is long enough to see how the tastefully designed building, where historical details organically merge with the modern, comes to life, and with equal interest both viewers and critics follow the development of the theater’s creative process, mastering the three play spaces – the Big, the Small and the New Hall. How diverse and artistically successful it will be, it is still too early to judge, but it is already clear that JRT’s popularity among Latvian theater lovers has not diminished – currently (in mid-November) tickets for almost all performances until the end of March are already sold out.
Photo: Jānis Deinats
This season, the New Riga Theater has started with the premiere of Martin McDonough’s play “The Executioner” in the Latvian Theater, to which the director Alvis Hermanis gave a poetic and at the same time ironic title in the context of the play – “May God stand by you, you, poor sufferer”, referring to the pub of the executioner Albert Pierrepoint. A Latvian theatergoer will enjoy the productions of the plays “Lonely West”, “Linen Beauty Queen”, “Unicorn from Spokane”, “Kroplis no Inishman”, “Connemara Skull”, “Pillow Man” and movies “Once in Bruges”, “Inisherina’s Banshee” etc. the dark humor of the well-known British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh is one of the shows attraction forces, which at the same time becomes a problem, because in the performance of the New Riga Theater it (namely, humor) has acquired a Latvian lukewarm temperature.
The playwright deftly manipulates the concepts of “executioner” and “victim”, seemingly switching places between the two characters at the turns of the plot, in order to reveal a surprising resolution of the situation in the finale
McDonagh’s play “Hangmen”, which can also be translated into Latvian as “Hangmen”, is based on a historically specific event, from which the philosophical paradox of the work grows. In 1965, when the death penalty by hanging is officially abolished in England, the last of Her Majesty’s executioners suddenly find themselves out of a job. This also happened to one of the most prolific executioners – Harry Wade, who was forced to live an everyday life and became a simple member of the local community. In McDonagh’s work, the paradox arises from the fact that, to the viewer, the executioner, who has hanged countless people without remorse (many of them innocent, as we see in the episode played out in the prologue), seems more credible than a simple young guy from London who, one random day, comes to Harry Wade’s pub, asking for a place to stay… The playwright deftly manipulates the concepts of “executioner” and “victim” in the twists and turns of the plot both characters seeming to switch places to reveal a surprising resolution of the situation in the finale (which one – everyone has to see for themselves). Playing on the ambiguity of the relationship between the executioner and the victim, Alvis Hermanis points out in the application for the play that aggression and hatred are significantly increasing among the Latvian population: “We chose this play because in our beloved Latvia recently it is very important for everyone to properly look after, monitor and, of course, immediately punish . Preferably so that peace does not arise afterwards.”
In McDonagh’s play, most of the characters speak in the broken dialect typical of the north of England, and, as the author’s remark predicts, they do it so quickly that the language becomes one of the sources of humor and character traits of the types who spend the whole day in the pub. It is the difference in the way of speaking that also creates an increased contrast between the colorful local commune and the mysterious stranger – the young man Mooney, who arouses all interest and distrust by speaking in a pure, literary correct “London accent”. It is quite logical that in the Latvian version the linguistic color of the play “lost in the translation”, but it is equally clear that the director was not interested in the play’s comedic potential, because on stage we see a staged not purely genre comedy, but a poetically philosophical detective, in which the “tasting” of the text is of great importance. , devoting a lot of stage time to the actors’ individual monologues and irrevocably sacrificing the pace and sharpness of the dialogues necessary for comedy.
Photo: Jānis Deinats
The excellent work of set designer and costume designer Kristīne Jurjāne plays an important role in creating the atmosphere of the production. The artist has created a poetically meaningful facade of a huge three-story building, which stretches across the width and height of the Great Hall and is built of countless doors and windows, suggesting not only the lids of the coffins of Harry Wade’s hanged victims, which symbolically hang on the walls of his pub or through the illuminated windows as trophies looking down on him, but also on the countless choices that each of us has every day must be accepted as you walk your life’s path. On the first floor, on the stage, a very realistic Irish pub is set up, where, dressed in brown costumes of various shades and seemingly merging with the wooden interior, local color – Harry Wade’s regular customers – sit as eternal props. The faces of all the characters in the show are covered with white makeup, signaling that the characters are probably already dead and what we are watching is a flashback to a world that no longer exists. On the other hand, as montage scissors, various Irish songs are heard between the scenes – ironic, sad and fun, stopping the action of the stage and gathering all the characters of the show in a single chorus, whose function is not only to mark the transitions of changing moods, but also, as it seems, to mask the things happening behind the scenes. stage conversions.
The production is based on characters played with taste by the core of the acting troupe of the New Riga Theater – Andris Keišs acts in the role of hangman Harry Veid in his comfortable, slightly self-ironic territory, enjoying the stage time allotted to him, making fun of the audience and sometimes also his stage partners.
This orderly environment, where routine and routine are important, also forms the backdrop for plot twists. The arrival of three characters becomes the main turning points of the play and also of the performance. First of all, it is Ritvars Login’s quick-witted journalist Clegg, who uses various means to untie Harry Wade, forcing him to reveal the secrets of the profession. Logins acts in the role organically and loosely, creating an image that can be interpreted in many ways, according to the detective genre. After reading the publication created by Clegg, his main competitor Alberts Pierrepoint also comes to see Harry Wade, who in Gundars Āboliņš’s exaggeratedly grotesque portrayal acquired the features of a noble, solemn aristocrat, creating a contrast between the brutality of the profession he represented and Pierrepoint’s own refined lifestyle. On the other hand, the most difficult role in the production is entrusted to the young actor Tom Harjo, whose Peter Mooney becomes the main topic of conversation in the Oldham pub. A conniving and ruthless killer bent on revenge for a hangman’s unjustly murdered friend, or simply a mysterious young man who develops a crush on Harry Wade’s daughter, Shirley? The finale of the production answers this question, but for the young actor this is a real test of acting, which he copes with with variable success. Tom Harjo’s stage charm is undeniable, and his character in the action of the play can be followed with unrelenting interest, while the psychological drawing of the role still lacks mastery, expressive declamation at times dominating the inner action.
Photo: Jānis Deinats
The production is based on characters played with taste by the core of the acting troupe of the New Riga Theater – Andris Keišs acts in the role of hangman Harry Veid in his comfortable, slightly self-ironic territory, enjoying the stage time allotted to him, making fun of the audience and sometimes also his stage partners. Similar to McDonagh in his play, Hermanis has given the role of the main executioner in the production to an actor who has organic stage charisma, paradoxically forcing him to be perceived as a well-known friend and not a murderer. Kaspars Znotiņš (Charlie), Jānis Skutelis (Inspector Fry), Dāvids Pētersons (Sidneys) and Yevgenijs Isajevs (Artūrs) also work comfortably in the zone of comic types, although in the context of the production’s logic, the question inevitably arises, why is there a character speaking with a Russian accent in an Irish pub, who biography is not revealed in any way.
Actresses of two generations managed to create psychologically deeper heroines different from the rest of the character system. In the sad character of Baiba Broka (the hangman’s wife Elisa), we can see both worries about maintaining the reputation of her family and her husband, as well as regret for a possibly wasted and wrongly lived life, the actress developing a seemingly episodic role into a lively and relatable character. Evelina Priede also shows herself as a young, talented actress – her Shirley is outwardly clumsy and withdrawn, but in the inner world she is a sensitive and full of longing young girl, whose fragile being obviously does not fit into the harsh world of men depicted on the stage.
Martin McDonagh’s play “The Executioner” has deservedly won the Laurence Olivier Award in the UK and the New York Critics Award for Best New Play. It is a real pleasure that this work of dramaturgy has started life in Latvia, confirming the viability of this playwright’s plays on the stages of Latvian theaters. Poetic, leisurely and with its own philosophical aftertaste, this production is organically recorded in the repertoire of the New Riga Theater, and the sold-out performances show that the audience is thirsty for good drama and good acting.
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New Riga Theater’s Spectacular Return: A Review of “The Executioner”
Well, folks, after a seven-year game of hide and seek with renovations, the New Riga Theater (JRT) is finally back in its historical domicile. You’d think they were off searching for the Holy Grail! As of March 2024, JRT reclaims its throne on Lāčplēša street, and by fall, the theater season was in full swing. Hats off to architect Zaiga Gaile, who not only brings beauty to buildings but recently snagged the “Grand Prix” at the Latvian Architecture Year ceremony. Take a bow, Zaiga! 🎉
But let’s not get too sentimental here. Half a year is long enough to wonder how that fancy building with historical charm meets modern design feels when it’s finally filled with rowdy audiences. And let’s just say, people are flocking to performances like it’s Black Friday. As of mid-November, nearly every show until March is sold out. I mean, is there a celebrity in the cast, or has everyone just lost their minds over dramatic art?
This season started with a bang, premiering Martin McDonagh‘s *The Executioner*, a title that sounds more like a horror film than a comedy. Director Alvis Hermanis has cleverly rebranded it to “May God stand by you, you, poor sufferer,” which is a title that rolls right off the tongue—if you speak in Shakespearean times! Now picture this: a pub owned by a hangman named Albert Pierrepoint. Sounds like the comedic start to a grim sitcom, but trust me, it’s deeper than that.
Now, McDonagh’s plays usually play around with dark humor like it’s a hot potato, but in *The Executioner*, it seems the humor has taken a detour, arriving at a rather lukewarm temperature in Latvia. It’s like ordering a spicy curry and getting a bowl of bland oatmeal instead. As the audience warmly chuckles, you can’t help but wonder if the cultural translation diluted the humor puckered up during its London debut. Still, elevating McDonagh’s work into the halls of Latvian culture? A smash hit!
“The playwright deftly manipulates the concepts of ‘executioner’ and ‘victim,’ which is kind of a twisted game of musical chairs!”
McDonagh’s *Hangmen*, which revolves around historical echoes, imagines the world of Harry Wade, the last executioner living in a world where the noose is a relic of the past. Can you believe it? The poor chap is out of a job! In the play, the executioner seems more relatable than the fresh-faced lad from London looking to crash at his pub. You know things are getting weird when a murderer has your sympathy, right?
Speaking of dialogue, it’s a chaotic mix of heavy northern English dialects and the kind of speech that makes you wonder if you should have taken dialect lessons while sipping your Earl Grey. If this play were a dish, it would be a hearty stew—rich in flavor but not always palatable for everyone sitting around the table. Let’s just say the comedy took the scenic route instead of hitting the fast lane—definitely a journey worth experiencing, but pack a snack.
Yet, set designer and costume creator Kristīne Jurjāne deserves a standing ovation. She’s fashioned a veritable art piece—the pub has been brought to life, beautifully mirroring a grave-like environment, complete with coffin-like doors and haunting decor. It’s like walking into a gothic fairy tale where the punchline didn’t land but you can’t help but admire the craft.
“The executioner with a heart, who would have thought?”
The performances are stellar, especially Andris Keišs as the hangman, who plays his role with a bit of self-ironical flair, as if he’s the only one brazen enough to laugh at his own dark profession. Meanwhile, Ritvars Login steals scenes with his journalist character, while Tom Harjo‘s performance as the mysterious Mooney feels like a rollercoaster of charm and intensity. Talk about making an entrance!
In a stunning twist, Baiba Broka‘s portrayal of the hangman’s wife breathes life into an otherwise shadowy role, turning it into a heart-wrenching diorama of sorrow, and Evelina Priede shines as well in her timid yet vibrant role as Harry’s daughter. They add the bittersweet layers to this already rich tapestry of human emotion and existential dread.
With *The Executioner*, McDonagh has graced the Latvian stage and given it a robust sense of identity. It’s a poignant, philosophical giggle-wrapped-in-a-lament that is masterfully placed in JRT’s repertoire. The sold-out shows indicate one thing: the appetite for intelligent, emotional storytelling is alive and well in Latvia. So get your tickets, stat! This isn’t just an evening out; it’s a theatrical meal that feels just right while leaving you hungry for more!
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After an extensive seven-year reconstruction, the New Riga Theater (JRT) triumphantly returned to its historic premises in March 2024. However, it was only this autumn that the first completely full-fledged JRT season commenced at the beautifully renovated location at 25 Lāčplēša Street. This remarkable architectural revival, brought to life by the talented architect Zaiga Gaile, was recently honored with the prestigious “Grand Prix” at the Latvian Architecture Year award ceremony.
Now, half a year into the new space, audiences are witnessing how the stylishly designed theater, blending historical elements seamlessly with modern aesthetics, invigorates the cultural landscape. There is palpable excitement among viewers and critics alike as they observe the theater’s creative evolution, particularly in its three distinctive performance spaces: the Big Hall, the Small Hall, and the New Hall. Although it may be premature to evaluate the artistic range and success of this season, one thing is abundantly clear: the JRT remains a beloved fixture among Latvian theater enthusiasts. As of mid-November, tickets to nearly all performances through the end of March are already fully booked.
This season, the New Riga Theater launched with the premiere of Martin McDonagh’s thought-provoking play “The Executioner.” In a clever twist, director Alvis Hermanis chose to reinterpret the title in a poetic, ironic light, dubbing it “May God stand by you, you, poor sufferer,” a nod to the infamous pub of executioner Albert Pierrepoint. Latvian theatergoers can also expect to indulge in a kaleidoscope of productions, including “Lonely West,” “Linen Beauty Queen,” “Unicorn from Spokane,” “Kroplis no Inishman,” “Connemara Skull,” and “Pillow Man,” alongside cinematic experiences of “Once in Bruges” and “Inisherina’s Banshee.” McDonagh’s signature dark humor serves as a compelling draw, yet in this JRT production, the humor seems to carry a distinctly understated, Latvian essence.
McDonagh’s play “Hangmen” is rooted in a specific historical event, serving as a platform for profound philosophical musings. Set in 1965, the narrative unfolds on the cusp of the abolition of hanging in England, where the last of Her Majesty’s executioners suddenly finds himself unemployed. Among them is the notorious Harry Wade, who transitions from his grim profession back into the folds of everyday life. A critical paradox arises as the executioner, who has dispatched numerous condemned souls (including several innocent victims, as revealed in the prologue), paradoxically captures more credibility than a seemingly innocent stranger, who first walks into his pub seeking refuge. McDonagh skillfully navigates the complex interplay between executioner and victim, leading audiences to a surprising resolution that is best discovered firsthand.
This production depicts a lively Irish pub atmosphere, meticulously crafted by set designer and costume designer Kristīne Jurjāne. The façade is a massive three-story structure, intricately composed of countless doors and windows, symbolizing myriad choices each person faces on their life’s journey. This clever design not only evokes the specter of Wade’s hanged victims but also mirrors the constant decisions that shape our existence. Inside, the pub provides a realistic stage filled with local figures in muted brown costumes, their faces cloaked in white makeup—a striking representation of their deceased status, suggesting we witness a sad recollection of a bygone world. Interspersed among the scenes are poignant Irish songs, which serve as emotional undertones, enhancing the transitions between moods and enveloping the audience in a cohesive theatrical experience.
The core acting troupe of the New Riga Theater delivers poignant portrayals in this production, particularly Andris Keišs as hangman Harry Wade, who inhabits his role with a mix of self-irony and charm. The routine setting, marked by an appreciation of the mundane, provides a rich backdrop for unexpected plot twists. The entrance of three significant characters propels the narrative—most notably Ritvars Login’s sharp-witted journalist Clegg, who employs various tactics to elicit the secrets of Wade’s dark profession. Login’s portrayal feels fluid and effortless, lending itself to multiple interpretations within the detective genre. Another impactful character is portrayed by Gundars Āboliņš, who brings a touch of noble humor to his grotesque take on Alberts Pierrepoint. Meanwhile, young actor Tom Harjo steps into the nuanced role of Peter Mooney, whose motives remain ambiguous—whether he represents a vengeful figure or merely a smitten admirer of Wade’s daughter will tantalize the audience until the climactic reveal.
The character dynamics foster an intriguing exploration of morality and consequence, echoing McDonagh’s intent to highlight rising aggression and intolerance within contemporary Latvian society. As the characters dabble in humor amidst their dire circumstances, the interplay of comedic elements and serious undertones creates a captivating theatrical experience. The layered performances and thoughtful direction allow for a deeper exploration of themes that resonate far beyond the stage, affirming McDonagh’s relevance in today’s cultural dialogue.
Martin McDonagh’s “The Executioner” has previously garnered prestigious accolades like the Laurence Olivier Award and the New York Critics Award for Best New Play, cementing its place as a notable piece of contemporary theater. Its introduction into the Latvian theatrical landscape not only celebrates McDonagh’s brilliance but also enriches the JRT repertoire. With its unique philosophical exploration and exquisite performances, the production has resonated powerfully with audiences, as reflected in the sold-out shows, further proving that the hunger for exceptional drama in Latvia is more vibrant than ever.
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How does the play balance humor and tragedy, reflecting McDonagh’s signature style?
O the role of Mooney with a captivating mix of charisma and intensity, making his presence felt in every scene.
Baiba Broka’s portrayal of the hangman’s wife adds a profound emotional depth to the production, portraying a woman grappling with the complexities of love, loss, and the societal repercussions of her husband’s grim profession. Her nuanced performance reveals layers of sorrow that resonate deeply with the audience. Evelina Priede, as Harry’s daughter, adds a refreshing contrast with her timid yet spirited disposition, embodying the desire for normalcy against the backdrop of her father’s dark reality.
The play’s themes echo the intricate dance between humor and tragedy, a hallmark of McDonagh’s work. Viewers are left to ponder the moral ambiguities surrounding the characters, especially as they navigate a world where the lines between right and wrong blur. This production manages to weave together the philosophical implications of mortality, guilt, and redemption, all while enveloping audiences in the rich tapestry of Irish culture.
With its successful opening, *The Executioner* sets the tone for an exciting season at the New Riga Theater. This spirited interpretation of McDonagh’s work highlights the versatility and vitality of theater in Latvia, providing a unique lens through which audiences can engage with universal questions of life and death, all expertly handled with a Latvian twist.
This production not only reaffirms the importance of storytelling in theater but also showcases the potential for cultural adaptation in articulating profound human experiences. For those craving a theatrical performance that challenges their perceptions while engaging them emotionally, this play is undoubtedly a must-see. The buzz around the sold-out shows reflects a collective enthusiasm for narratives that dig deep, affirming the relevance of McDonagh’s work within the vibrant Latvian artistic scene.
As the season progresses, theatergoers are invited to experience the evolution of the New Riga Theater as it continues to illuminate the cultural landscape, and with productions like *The Executioner*, it’s clear that audiences are in for a treat filled with insight, reflection, and perhaps a dark chuckle or two.
