THE TWELVE CHAIRS

Director - Alvis Hermanis

Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrov
THE TWELVE CHAIRS

Hunting for the hidden treasures in one of the 12 chairs has served as a pretext to tell one of those Jewish stories, where fun has merged with melancholy turning into one and the same thing. The novel, in a way, is also a compilation of the Odessa Jewish street folklore, whose blood type is similar to that of Isaac Babel’s Odessa Stories, however, The Twelve Chairs have been written in the context of the early Soviet period. Perhaps the censorship, antisemitism and other circumstances of the time make us perceive the novel also as a metaphor of something else. The ways of interpretation are open and we are going to use them.

The main characters of the story – Ostap Bender with his companion Kisa have passed into folklore since long ago, and to visualize them on the stage is an impudent and hopelessly daring venture on our part. We apologize for that in advance.

Actors – Andris Keišs, Gundars Āboliņš or Kaspars Znotiņš, Ģirts Krūmiņš, Baiba Broka, Sandra Kļaviņa or Elita Kļaviņa, Guna Zariņa, Jana Čivžele, Vilis Daudziņš, Jevgēnijs Isajevs, Ivars Krasts, Varis Piņķis, Regīna Razuma, Edgars Samītis, Andis Strods

Director, stage designer – Alvis Hermanis
Costume designer– Kristīne Jurjāne

Venue: the Small Stage Miera street 58a
Duration: 4 h
Prices: 15,00; 20,00; 22,00 EUR

Premiere on December 7, 2014