Contemporary theatre programme forte forte. Rimini Protokoll. 100% Rīga
Rimini Protokoll (Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel)
100% RĪGA
VEF Culture palace, Ropažu street 2
December 4 and 6, 19:00
December 7, 17:00
In Latvian and Russian
Duration 1h30
Tickets at Biļešu Paradīze and at the New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Miera street 39-2. Ticket price 10 EUR and 7 EUR (for students, seniors, people with disabilities).
Performance on December 6 is sold out!
Authors: Rimini Protokoll (Helgard Haug, Stefans Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel)
Co-authors and performers: 100 Rīga inhabitants
Director: Daniel Wetzel
Dramaturgist and co-director: Sebastian Brunger
Lights and video: Marc Jungreitmeier
Scenography: Mascha Mazura and Marc Jungreitmeier
Band: The Quinters
Casting and interviews: Līga Rudzīte, Sandra Lapkovska, Gundega Laiviņa
Rīga team: Kristaps Bedrītis, Krista Burāne, Linda Krūmiņa, Gundega Laiviņa, Kārlis Lapiņš, Sandra Lapkovska, Jānis Liniņš, Linda Pēterkopa, Anna Požogina, Līga Rudzīte, Linda Ūdre
Producer: New Theatre Institute of Latvia
www.rimini-protokoll.de
“100% Rīga” is the event of ‘Rīga 2014 – European Capital of Culture’ and a part of the artistic programme of the International Forum “100% CITY” – the closing event of the initiative ‘Global City-Local City’ realised with the support of the “Culture” Programme of the European Union. Performance was devised during the artistic residency of director Daniel Wetzel in Riga.
According to population census there were 658 640 people living in Rīga in 2011. That is 105 689 less than in 2000. The most populated Rīga district is Purvciems, average Rigan’s living space is 23,3 square meters, but 3 girls in Latvia are named after Rīga.
People are constantly formed into lines, graphs and aisles that are used for political argumentation or to justify economical strategies. What if we gave human traits to these numbers? How would it look like if 100 Riga inhabitants would step on stage to represent their city the same way 100 percent do in statistics? What if they revealed what it is that Riga actually thinks and feels?
For 6 months we have met and talked with 100 Rigans, however it all started with the first participant of “100% Rīga” – head of the Central Statistical Bureau Aija Žīgure. She was the one inviting the second participant who then invited the third one etc., until the 100th. The participants of “100% Rīga” are a precise reflection of Riga’s statistics, according to gender, age, nationality, district and household.
“100% Rīga” are the people who shape our city, they are the people who have met for the first time, they are a choir who have never sung together before, a city portrait with 100 faces. “100% Rīga” is a performance about something that statistics will never capture.
“100% Rīga” is the 22nd city whose statistics is put on stage. Rimini Protokoll have already done 100% in Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris, Tokyo, Melbourne, Cork, Philadelphia among others.
The German and Swiss directors collective Rimini Protokoll are repeating the same human research work that ethnologists and anthropologists did in Africa and Australia in the 1960s. Difference is that they are doing this in modern day cities where they look into a specific area or get to know people working in certain fields, later using their research to work in theatre. Rimini Protokoll have been in Rīga twice before. In 2005 they created the performance about power and bureaucracy “Cameriga” in the present-day building for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but in 2007 invited the audience to a performance about truck drivers “Cargo Sofia – Rīga”.
Contemporary theatre programme forte forte is the event of Riga 2014 – European Capital of Culture presenting a series of performances by some of the leading European theatre directors and companies. This year the programme has hosted such artists as Alvis Hermanis, Jan Lauwerss and Needcompany, Rimini Protokoll, Alain Platel and les balets C de la B. It is supported by foundation “Riga 2014″, Riga City Council, Ministry of Culture, State Culture Capital Foundation, Latvia’s State Forests and Goethe Institute in Rīga.
Photos from the first “100% Rīga” rehearsals in October.
Photos: Laura Stašāne
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