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Homo Novus
Homo Novus - from Latin - the new, hitherto
unknown man. In ancient Rome Homo novus was a derogatory
term denoting young men who had risen from the lower strata
of society to high society. Later this name was used to mean
upstarts and parvenus. In a narrower sense Homo novus
was a man who had reached his higher standing independently,
thanks to his mental abilities, a newcomer in a certain realm,
a forward thinking person.
Underlining Homo novus in its title, the Festival
has been proactive. It may irritate, it may create associations
with the word "experimental.". The most tenacious
myth in Latvian theatre is the popularity of theatre as art
among people, thus, the orthodox, traditional theatre model.
Homo novus aims not only to provoke Latvian theatres
and audience to start upward changes and to take a broader
look, but also to show Latvian theatre on an international
level and to facilitate purposefully long-term international
co-operation.
International Festival of Contemporary Theatre "Homo
Novus" has been held since 1995 every second year.
It is organised by the New Theatre Institute of Latvia. The
director of the Festival is Peteris Krilovs.
Homo Novus 2003 program
"Homo Novus 2003" program is compressed
over three weekends - from Friday to Sunday. A Festival
of Contrasts "Homo Novus 2003" will reveal the
diverse nature of contemporary theatre. Striking guest performances
of foreign theatres, that have won recognition in festivals
and at home, as well as original Latvian theatre projects,
concerts of world music and videodance screenings - that is
the coming "Homo Novus 2003". The Festival considers
crucial a wider understanding of theatrical art, which has
long since overstepped the limits of dramatic theatre, converging
with music, circus, dance, film and multimedia art. The program
of "HN 2003" includes several inter-genric projects,
in which various arts are of equal importance. Film and theatre
(Belgian performance "üBUNG"), film and dance (Estonian
and Russian joint project "Swan Lake) live side by side
and interact, visual art dominates in theatre of objects (Czech
artist Petr Nikl performance "Water Dances"), but
the creative group from Latvia BBM offers a multimedia performance,
difficult to define, in which the relations between sound,
picture and live performance are very important ("Black
Butterfly Market"). The best-suited designation for Finnish
"Woyzeck" is a "rock performance", Russian
"Oxygen" reminds of a rap performance at a club,
but two concerts of world music promise theatrical touches.
Alvis Hermanis' "A Story about Kaspar Hauser" (Latvia)
and Eimuntas Nekrosius "The Beginnings. Kristijonas Donelaitis.
SEASONS" (Lithuania) come closest to classical understanding
of theatre - superb performances, in which the directors'
styles reach perfection in a clear and beautiful visualisation
of thought.
The Festival itself is becoming marginal and the English
term "Performing arts festival" should be
applied to it, since it includes performances, concerts and
screenings of video dance. However, no Latvian term equal
to the English "performing arts" has taken root
in the Latvian language, therefore the "Contemporary
Theatre" in the full title of the Festival (and "New"
in NTIL) should be understood as openness with which we follow
the dynamics of development of the art of theatre.
Friday to Sunday Festival
The three weekends may be perceived as three mini-festivals,
since each of them has its own structure and internal tension.
Week 1: September 19 - 21
The conceptual opening of "HN 2003" is one of the
most interesting Latvian theatre performances of the previous
season - "A Story about Kaspar Hauser", staged
by Alvis Hermanis at the New Riga Theatre. The performance
"üBUNG" of Belgian theatre "Victoria"
engages in a peculiar dialogue with this, since it also has
children playing adults in it. Incidentally, this performance
was nationally recognised as the best performance of the year
(2001). Moscow "Theatre.doc" hooligan, philosophical
project "Oxygen" comes as a counterpoint
to the high art, it was recognised as the artistically most
striking theatre manifestation of the previous season in Russia.
But in order to make the audience utterly confused, it will
be possible to see a program of videodances (that is
a special genre!) from various countries and to listen to
the enchanting duet of Thierry "Titi" Robin
(France) and Gulabi Sapera (India) at the concert
of world music at "Sapnu fabrika".
Week 2: September 26 - 28
Finally Latvian audience will have the possibility to meet
one of the most original Finnish directors of the younger
generation - Kristian Smeds. His staging of Georg Buchner
"Woyzeck" at "Kajaaninteatteri" is very
contemporary, achingly funny and ironic interpretation of
the classic expressionist drama under the accompaniment of
live rock music. After a longer break the independent theatre
"Von Krahl" from Tallinn will again be the guest
of the Festival. Director Peeter Jalakas, this time in co-operation
with choreographer Sasha Pepelyaev interprets a classical
piece - the famous "Swan Lake" by Tchaikovsky.
To be more exact, they are editing the views on classical
ballet, by playing with signs and meanings on all levels of
the performance - in music, movement and video picture.
Week 3: October 3- 5
It is tempting to call the performance of the Lithuanian theatre
"Meno Fortas" "The Beginnings. SEASONS by
Kristijonas Donelaitis" the Renaissance of director
Nekrosius, as the performance , retaining the stage language
saturated with metaphors typical of him, is no longer dominated
by doomed morbidity as in his renderings of Shakespeare, but
by sparkling vitality and assertive energy. The solo project
by Czech artist Petr Nikl "Water Dances"
serves as a contrast both in terms of "size" and
ideas. Playing with curious objects and altered toys, he creates
plotless stories of childhood and death, weirdly reflecting
in vibrating space. Independent project "Black Butterfly
Market" (Latvia), synthesising electronic music and
live acoustic performance, videoart and instances of stage
activities, talks about the Trinity of Unborn, Living and
Dead World, through the circles of which man travels. But
in the conclusion of the festival Hungarian world music ensemble
"Besh o droM" will address our hidden temperament
in hot rhythms of Gipsy music.
Latvian Performances
Alongside the festival core program "HN" used to
offer also a show of Latvian performances, allowing foreign
guests to view the most interesting Latvian performances,
selected by NTIL, with interpretation in English. This time
we did not organise a special showing of Latvian performances,
but are offering information on the recent developments in
our theatres during the three weekends of the Festival. Latvian
theatre is turning increasingly more diverse. We want to show
the full spectrum of it and gradually place the initiatives
of international co-operation in the hands of the theatres
themselves.
Festival Team
Peteris Krilovs, Festival Director, 7212621, peterisk@theatre.lv
Baiba Tjarve, Program Director, 7212621, baiba@theatre.lv
Agnese Luse, Program Director, 7212631, agnesel@theatre.lv
Zane Kreicberga, Program Director, 7212628, zane@theatre.lv
Laura Rinkevica, Office and Financial Administrator, 7212622,
laura@theatre.lv
Linda Karole, Marketing Director, 7212621, linda@theatre.lv
Edite Dancberga, Manager, 7212631, info@theatre.lv
Helena Reitupe, Manager, 7212621, helenar@theatre.lv
Gundega Laiviņa, Public Relations Manager, 7 311021, 7 212631,
6 516665, gundega@literature.lv
Evita Sniedze, Editor of Publicity Materials , e.sniedze@one.lv
Linda Luse, Design of Publicity Materials
Izolde Cesniece, Artist of the Festival, izolde@re-lab.net
Viesturs Rieksts, Technical Director, info@teatris.lv
Varis Klausitajs, Translation Service, varisk@hotmail.com
Contacts
The New Theatre Institute of Latvia
13-700 Merķeļa, LV-1050 Riga
Tel.: +371 7212622
Fax: +371 7212471
E-mail: info@theatre.lv
www.theatre.lv/hn
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