JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS

Joseph is today’s Hamlet. He deals with his scorching questions in the same way, in complete solitude. As we all do. When all the social networks with their echo chambers of real and fake advisors are shut down, you are left one-on-one with your conscience and your inner compass. The arrow keeps twitching. Where will it stop? Nursing your pain and nurturing your victim’s resentment is so sweet and tempting. To silence the murmur of your ego is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks of this life. In today’s world, where Joseph’s pits abound, what does it really mean to forgive? What does it mean to turn evil into good? To feel the gifted feather rather than thorns?

The director Inese Mičule, as well as the creative team – stage designer Reinis Dzudzilo, visual artist Krista Dzudzilo and composer Rihards Zaļupe – have proved their maturity in their previous productions and now can talk on stage about complex ethical and philosophical issues in the form of a laconic tragedy.

Director Inese Mičule: “A play of such artistic value, poetic and symbolic layer, as well as the universal human theme, it surpasses anything I have worked with before in my creative life. I think that the content of Rainis’ play contains a kind of ethical and aesthetic frame of reference that is particularly relevant today – in the age of power and aggression, globalisation, the international web. It is a dispute about the path of humanity, about our own subjective path, which is beyond control, because human spiritual growth happens only when one wants it. Therefore, the key task of this performance is to undergo a kind of moral self-purification – social and individual – through the work of Rainis. To convey the message that God’s will is for people to grow in their spirituality and their ability to forgive.”

The play has received 3 Spēlmaņu Nakts 2023/2024 Awards:

▪️ Young Stage Artist of the Year – Aksels Aizkalns for the role of Joseph

▪️ Set Designer of the Year – Reinis and Krista Dzudzilo

▪️ Choreographer of the Year – Linda Mīļā

The play has received nominations in the following Spēlmaņu Nakts 2023/2024 categories:

▪️ Large Form Performance of the Year

▪️ Director of the Year – Inese Mičule

▪️ Actor of the Year – Mārtiņš Meiers for the role of Joseph

▪️ Supporting Actress of the Year – Inese Pudža for the role of Asnate

▪️ Best Original Music – Rihards Zaļupe

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The production was created with the support of the Borisa and Ināras Teterevu Foundation during the theatre’s centenary season (2023/2024). Theatre lovers were introduced to new productions based on the classics of Latvian drama. This season, the staging of four works has been made possible thanks to the financial contribution of the Foundation. These are Joseph and His Brothers by Rainis (directed by Inese Mičule), The Widow’s Son by Vilis Plūdons (directed by Viesturs Roziņš), The Boys of Valmiera by Pāvils Rozītis (directed by Jānis Znotiņš) and The Prodigal Son by Rūdolfs Blaumanis (directed by Reinis Suhanovs).

The support for the 2023/2024 season is a gift from the Borisa and Ināras Teterevu Foundation to Valmiera Theatre on its centenary and an investment in its journey from its temporary home in the contemporary art space Kurtuve to the renovated and modernised theatre building on Lāčplēša Street.

Photos: Krista Dzudzilo, Matīss Markovskis