Rihards Jakovels
Born: June 19, 1988
Born in Riga. Graduated from Riga Secondary School No. 64 (2007) and the Latvian Academy of Culture as a dramatic theatre actor (2011). During his studies, he expanded his education in masterclasses led by Davide Giovanzana (Italy/Finland), Ryszard Olesiński (Poland), and Wojciech Kościelniak (Poland). Since 2011, he has been an actor at the Valmiera Drama Theatre.
Rihards entered the theatre with a disarming brightness and enthusiasm. Need it done? Let’s do it! He is ready to participate in the craziest projects and experiments, speeding on his motorcycle just to be wherever he is needed. Rihards managed to take part in Oļģerts Kroders’ final production, and he possessed enough healthy self-irony to realize that theatre is often the art of compromise, and that a role can sometimes be an advance payment. He did what he could, accepting criticism with a cool head and… understanding. Having played many touching and kind-hearted characters, Rihards truly shook audiences with his monologue performance Bask@bols.lv—displaying an immense amount of personal maturity, genuine patriotism, and the ability to feel another’s pain as his own.
His class master Edmunds Freibergs once wrote:
“The fact that you, Rihard, accepted the invitation from the Valmiera Theatre was definitely not a mistake. In this theatre (and I know this from personal experience), a young actor is given the greatest opportunities to work and develop their talent. I am glad that you have also staged a monologue performance about a topic close to your heart—sports. As we know, holding the audience’s attention all by yourself is a major test, even for the professionalism of experienced masters. You have passed it!”
Rihards Jakovels is one of those ideal actor-patriots of the Valmiera Theatre, clearly proving that purposeful work in an environment of trust and creative growth bears fruit. Rihards has grown up on the Valmiera Theatre stage. It can be said that through his roles, he has experienced a true initiation—evolving from a somewhat cowardly, egocentric, and sluggish youth as Krustiņš in The Prodigal Son (Pazudušais dēls) to Joseph’s ultimate antithesis: the eldest brother Judah, who is full of logic, his own sense of justice, and hardened masculinity.
In between many other roles, a major milestone was his collaboration with director Varis Brasla in the production of A Farewell to Arms (Ardievas ieročiem). There, Rihards Jakovels’ Frederic Henry experiences his first love so beautifully in his warm, almost boyish masculinity. He infused Hemingway’s harsh world, shaped by war, with an abundance of tenderness, honor, and humanity, being forced to grow up in a matter of a few tragic seconds.
“Youth drives me forward, and I haven’t learned to slow down yet. But I am learning it—to slow down, stop, and assess the situation so that in the future, I can move forward with even broader strides,” Rihards Jakovels said in a 2018 interview with nra.lv (18.10.2018).
An indicator of the actor’s character is the fact that he gave his first award to his parents, left the second one in the dressing room so his colleagues could see that “we all achieved this together,” and as for the third, fourth, and fifth—that remains to be seen.
“Rihards Jakovels’ Krustiņš in the Valmiera Drama Theatre’s 2017 production is a modern young man who tries but fails to find his place in a world governed by so many strange and questionable rules created by others.” (Jānis Siliņš. Teātra Vēstnesis. No. 1, 2018).
“Rihards Jakovels’ Henry is exactly the kind of man they write about in novels (and not just Hemingway)—masculine, attractive, weathered by life’s winds, warm, safe, and reliable.” (Līga Ulberte. KDi, 07.03.2020).
