Bus

Time for turns nobody expected.

A whirlpool of adventure based on the motifs of Bulgarian writer Stanislav Stratiev's comedy of the same name.

On one evening in a big city, a half-empty public bus leaves the Terminal for the Center at the scheduled time. There are many such buses in the city in the evening, but this particular one will turn out to be special. On board are wonderful passengers: The Indifferent One (Anna Šteina), The Reasoner (Zane Burnicka), The Loving One (Zane Vaļicka), The Virtuoso (Līga Robežniece), The Inept One (Madars Zvagulis) and The Outsider (Kārlis Anitens). Although even before the bus leaves the Terminal a serious conflict erupts among the passengers because of a very large violin (cello), the passengers realize the true gravity of the situation only when one of them notices through the dark windows that the bus is not following the prescribed route. It is not going to the Center at all! What has happened, what should be done, where is the bus going, and how can it be stopped if the sign by the driver’s cabin says, “Do not speak to the driver!”? Vertiginous turns of events, conspiracy theories, endless misunderstandings, risking lives and freedoms - all this awaits the six bus passengers and you too, dear audience, this evening!

The comedy, or more precisely the satirical play “Bus,” was written in 1980 by Bulgarian writer Stanislav Stratiev (1941-2000). Masterfully transferring all the character traits of society onto the passengers of a bus, the author has managed to turn the vehicle into a miniature state, which, led by a self-interested government (in the case of the bus - the driver), heads in a direction incomprehensible to society. Whether and by what means people manage to unite in order to stand up to nonsense and self-serving interests is all cleverly explored by the author in a work that, even 40 years after being written, has lost not a crumb of relevance.

This is the first production in the “Eastern Border” trilogy “Bus. Train. Plane.”

Direction, set, costumes: Kārlis Anitens

Movement: Reinis Rešetins

Light, sound: Eduards Hiršs

Publicity: Lauris Ermansons

Premiere on September 30, 2022