Black Swan

Jaunais Rīgas teātris, (Riga, Latvia)

Friday, 30 May 2025 , 5PM

Arena Toruń, ul. Bema 73-89

Earphones: Polish, English

Running time: 3h 30 (two intervals)
Ticket price: 150 PLN – regular, 120 PLN – concession

Alvis Hermanis has declared that everything Jaunais Rīgas teātris does will be radical. And such is his play, Black Swan, the title of which refers to the concept of the 'black swan’ – a metaphor for an unpredictable event that no one has taken into account and which radically changes the existing situation. The playscript based on the first part of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot takes us to 2024 – the war in Ukraine had been going on for two years.

Black Swan in the director’s vision extends to Dostoyevsky’s beliefs and philosophical ideas expressed by his characters. Hermanis puts forward the thesis that Dostoyevsky is no more and no less than the father of fascism in today’s Russia. In his monologue, Mishkin speaks of the “restitution of lost humanity,” which can only be achieved by Russian Thought, the Russian God and Christ. On top of that, the director has ‘dressed up’ the performance in a sophisticated form of classical ballet aesthetics, which, as a commentary, parodies today’s situation, shifting the play towards a comedy of manners.

Alvis Hermanis, a multiple award-winner at the Kontakt Festival, presented The Land of the Deaf in Toruń last year.

Premiere: 10.04.2024

Teaser:

Creators:

Director, Set design : Alvis Hermanis
Costume design: Jana Čivžele
Choreography: Zane Teikmane

Lighting design: Oskars Pauliņš

Hairdresser, makeup: Sarmīte Balode, Ilze Trumpe

Cast: 

Dostoyevsky/Mishkin – Kaspars Znotiņš

Nastasya Filippovna – Evelīna Priede

General Yepanchin – Andris Keišs

Lizaveta Yepanchina – Baiba Broka

Totsky – Gundars Āboliņš, 

Fyodor the Servant – Jevgēnijs Isajevs, 

Aglaya – Sabīne Tīkmane, 

Parfyon Rogozhin – Ivars Krasts, 

Adelaida – Agate Krista, 

Alexandra – Aminata Grieta Diarra, 

Ganya – Ritvars Logins,

Lebedev – Dāvids Pētersons, 

Ferdyshchenko – Toms Harjo

Nastya as a child – Šarlote Puriņa

Photo: Jānis Deinats