Sprīdītis

Anna Brigadere

SPRĪDĪTIS

A Fairy Tale in 2 Parts

Director, set designer - Reinis Suhanovs

Costume designer - Anna Heinrihsone

Lighting designer - Niks Cipruss

Movement artist - Linda Mīļā

Composer - Kārlis Tone

Cast - Rūdis Bīviņš, Aksels Aizkalns, Aigars Apinis, Gerda Embure, Rihards Jakovels, Māra Mennika, Inese Ramute, Klinta Reinholde, Sandis Runge, Diāna Krista Stafecka, Elīna Vāne, Kārlis Dzintars Zahovskis

In 1903, the Riga Latvian Theatre approached Anna Brigadere (1861-1933) with a request to translate a play that would be suitable for a Christmas production intended for the whole family. The writer, however, chose to write an original work, and the first of her popular fairy-tale plays, Sprīdītis, came into being, earning wide acclaim. For more than a hundred years, Brigadere's story about the nimble, curious, selfless boy with a big heart has continued to inspire new interpretations. But is the heart like a little diamond egg? To awaken a somewhat sleepy heart and break the horns of pride, Sprīdītis must overcome all kinds of obstacles, protecting Mother Wind's sons, freeing children lost in the forest from Lutauši, outsmarting the Miser, and finally defeating the devil himself. Only then comes the reward - the realization that happiness was not so far away after all.

For director Reinis Suhanovs, Sprīdītis is a personal work about returning. The more attentive will notice that Suhanovs's Sprīdītis pairs well with his previous production at Valmiera Theatre - Blaumanis's The Lost Son, but this time it will be a story with a happy ending. Unlike Krustiņš, Sprīdītis will be found!

"It will definitely be a performance for children about growing up and a child's adventurous entry into the adult world," says director Reinis Suhanovs.

A performance for children in grades 1 to 5.

*****

The performance was created with the support of the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation in Valmiera Theatre's 2024/2025 season. It is marked by the theatre's return to the renovated and modernized theatre building on Lāčplēša Street, so the productions focus on returning home and the different forms of love.

Of the new productions, the creation of five works has been made possible thanks to the continued strong friendship between the theatre and the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation. They are William Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" (director Inese Mičule), Gunārs Priede's "Blue" (director Māra Ķimele), Anna Brigadere's fairy-tale play "Sprīdītis" (director Reinis Suhanovs), another Gunārs Priede play, "The Thirteenth" (director Jānis Znotiņš), and Thomas Mann's novel "The Magic Mountain" (director Toms Treinis).

This support continues a collaboration that began in the theatre's centenary season (2023/2024). With the foundation's support, four works from the Latvian dramatic classics were staged and met with audience and critical acclaim: "Joseph and His Brothers" (director Inese Mičule), "The Widow's Son" (director Viesturs Roziņš), "The Boys of Valmiera" (director Jānis Znotiņš) and "The Lost Son" (director Reinis Suhanovs).