INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY THEATRE
“HOMO NOVUS 2001” RIGA, SEPTEMBER 14-23

 
"Don’t Give Flowers to Wolves" 
Lelde Stumbre
All the little ones are angels and they know – it isn’t hard
Independent Theatre Skatuve (Latvia)

    The one-act plays "The Family" and "The Class" written by Lelde Stumbre were highly appraised in the short play competition The Block organized in 1999. The paradoxical look with which the playwright looks into the world in one of the plays and the figurativeness she has used in the other play attracted the attention of the director Zane Kreicberga. And then an idea occurred to her to combine both of these plays written in different genres into one performance. 
The performance is devoted to women - the ones who have children as well as to those who still do not have any or maybe will never have them. The first part of the performance with the title “The Family” is mainly focusing on the revelation of psychological and social motivations of the three characters, which make them choose to act in the way they do (to adopt the child or to renounce her). They all – Linda and Olaf, a married childless couple, and the nineteen-year-old Effie who “still hasn’t experienced anything in her life” – are trying to settle their lives.
    The only person to whom nobody is asking anything is the little, a couple of month old girl who has been left at the woman living next door and who is in the greatest need of a real family of all of them. In the second part with the title “The Class” the children are paying back to the grown-ups putting their questions to the teacher Anna. Their seemingly unprotected world that is subdued to the rules and interests of the society turns out to be so strong that the poor teacher gets confused and… starts to believe that “all the little ones are angles”. Little angles, the very smallest ones of them.
The visual and sound score plays a great role in the performance. The laconically formed setting is reacting to the nuances in the narration expressed by Anna through subtle transformations. The elaborated sound setting is functioning during the performance as an independent element. 
The creative team wants to express special thank to all the children and their parents who have taken part in the making of the performance. 

Lelde Stumbre (1952) is one of the most prolific authors in the Latvian drama writing. In her plays she harmonically mixes the scenes taken from reality with irreal occurring. She is a smart researcher of the relationships of men and women.
The director of the performance - Zane Kreicberga (1971).
She has graduated from the Department of the Film and Theatre Arts at the Culture Academy of Latvia (1997). Since 1988 she has been performing in the Ansis Rutentals Movement Theatre where she has staged several choreographies. In her performances she has creatively mixed the plastic of the characters with psychological impressions. She has also turned to the works of intellectual drama as well as made success staging performances for children. 
At present she works as a program director of the festival Homo Novus.