To create a new language for communicating ideas to the world
Founded in 1992, the New Riga Theatre has been a cutting-edge trail-blazer of theater productions both locally and internationally. The theater’s character is its modern interpretations of classic works and its interaction with the audience.
Alvis Hermanis, the theatre’s artistic director, believes they have created a new language of theatre that has infinite means of communicating in innovative ways with viewers from different cultural backgrounds.
Hermanis productions are a collective effort involving the intellectual capacity of every single actor. The plays typically portray the people from the everyday life. This could be compared, in a sense, to documentary filmmaking where each actor’s personal character and interpretation adds to the essence of the story.
The New Riga Theatre is a theatre for a reflective audience. The plays do not give answers to questions nor offer an escape from the reality. Instead, they raise questions, provoke and most importantly – make people think. In this stressful age of consumer culture the productions of the New Riga Theatre invokes humanism, vitality and emotion, harmony and simplicity.
Alvis Hermanis: “As years go by, my views about art are becoming more and more old-fashioned. Therefore, I believe that the theatre must be a place where the audience can both laugh and cry - this is the ultimate that the actors should achieve. If a viewer’s lips are smiling, while, at the same time, there are tears in his eyes, it means that the story has touched the most delicate matter in this world – the human soul itself.”
To date, the New Riga Theater has performed to audiences in 33 different countries, including Russia, Germany, Italy, the United States, Chile, Korea and New Zealand. On average, the theater gives around 500 performances annually from which around 90 are at various international theatre festivals.
