Latvian Rockets

Regnārs Vaivars • Director - Regnārs Vaivars

Documentary heroic epic

"Latvian Rockets" is a performance in which audiences will be able to look into the history of Latvian bobsleigh - the director created it by interviewing 21 people closely connected to bobsleigh, forming his own view of the events.

The beginnings of Latvian bobsleigh can be traced back to the 1980s, when engineer and luge coach Rolands Upatnieks, out of absolutely nothing (there was no such sport in the USSR or in Latvia), created a USSR team that was 95 percent Latvian. Rolands Upatnieks' talent as an engineer and manager brought about a true revolution in this 100-year-old sport - his sleds, designed by him and known around the world as "Latvian Rockets."

The performance will also use modern technologies that can divide the final seconds into a thousand particles, but still cannot peer into the mysterious curves of the heroes' souls. It will be a documentary heroic epic for the Latvian people and in memory of Rolands Upatnieks, who has passed away.

As the director emphasizes: "This performance is not about sport, but about Latvian men - Lāčplēsis - folk heroes. Latvians can, could, and will be able to."

God grant, to climb the hill,

climb the hill,

not down from the hill into the valley...

The performance has been nominated for 5 awards in the 2023/2024 "Spēlmaņu nakts" season: "Best Large-Scale Production" (AWARD), "Director of the Year" (Regnārs Vaivars), "Actor of the Year" (Mārtiņš Kalita), "Set Designer of the Year" (Valters Kristbergs), "Light or Video Artist of the Year" (Mārtiņš Feldmanis)!

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Cast: Mārtiņš Kalita, Valts Skuja, Kārlis Artejevs, Artūrs Irbe, Kārlis Ērglis, Hugo Puriņš, Armands Kaušelis, Kaspars Kārkliņš, Sandis Pēcis

Assistant director - Mārtiņš Kalita

Set designer - Valters Kristbergs

Costume designer - Madara Botmane

Choreographer - Regnārs Vaivars

Lighting designer - Mārtiņš Feldmanis

Video artist - Dainars Albužis

Premiere on February 17, 2024