Latvian Language Lessons

Performance

Premiere: 9 July 2026

New East cultural space, Daugavpils, Latvia

Latvian Language Lessons is a sharp yet deeply human story about Kolya — a man who was born and has spent his entire life in Latvia and is now preparing for the state language examination. Yet the test confronting him reaches far beyond grammar rules and correct answers. It becomes an encounter with his own desire to belong, his fear of failing to meet expectations and his need to understand his place in the country he has always considered home.

Kolya exists in a permanent state of examination — not because he is inherently “different”, but because the system repeatedly asks him to prove his right to be here. In this work, language is not merely a symbol of culture or a source of pride in one’s identity. It becomes an institutional filter, drawing a line between what is permitted and what is not, between belonging and remaining outside.

Rather than reducing its subject to an ethnic conflict or an image of two separate and opposing communities, the production explores the psychological and political trauma of decolonisation. It examines the crisis of self-worth that emerges when a person’s biography, language and loyalty are continually subjected to public assessment.

Kolya’s inner voice occupies a central place in the performance. Ironic and aggressive, at times funny and at others unsettling, it comments, provokes, assists and humiliates, repeatedly leading him back to old resentments and uncomfortable questions. The voice becomes a metaphor for the way a person carries not only private trauma but also the echoes of their environment, propaganda, stereotypes and conflicts that society has never found a language to address.

The performance moves constantly between humour and tension, empathy and discomfort. Kolya may provoke laughter, tenderness, anger or second-hand embarrassment, but he does not allow the audience to remain at a safe distance. His attempt to change also poses a question to society: is it prepared to accept someone trying to overcome not only a linguistic barrier but also the ideas of the past that have taken root within him?

Latvian Language Lessons opens a conversation around subjects that often coexist in Latvia without necessarily meeting in genuine dialogue: identity and language, integration and loneliness, the experiences of Latvia’s minority communities, democratic resilience, the influence of propaganda and a person’s capacity to change even when that change is uncomfortable, absurd or painful.

Latvian Language Lessons is not a performance about language. It is a performance about the examination a person must pass to prove that they belong.

Performances

8 July 2026 — dress rehearsal, New East cultural space, Daugavpils, Latvia

9 July 2026 — premiere, New East cultural space, Daugavpils, Latvia

10 July 2026 — LAMPA Conversation Festival, Regions Stage, Cēsis, Latvia

13 August 2026 — Draugystė Cultural Centre, Visaginas, Lithuania

28 August 2026 — Eduards Smiļģis Theatre Museum, Riga, Latvia

28 August 2026 — Eduards Smiļģis Theatre Museum, Riga, Latvia

Audience Information

Duration: 90 minutes

Languages: Russian and Latvian, with Latvian surtitles

Age guidance: 16+

The performance contains strong language.

Creative Team

Concept and lead performer: Vadims Bogdanovs

Director: Edvīns Klimanovs

Playwright: Andrejs Timofejevs

With the participation of: Žanna Lubgāne, Milena Savkina, Vanda Gibovska, Kristīne Veinšteina, Miroslavs Blakunovs, Marina Ivanova, Eduards Beļnikovs

Lighting and sound designer: Eduards Beļnikovs

Set and costume designer: Daria Vipulis

Composer: Jevgenijs Rosickis

Videographer: Miroslavs Blakunovs

Photographer: Jegors Afoničs

Producers: Marina Ivanova, Elīna Veinšteina

Design: Joren Dobkiewicz, Anna Jureviča

Communications: Alisa Puhalska

Translation: Marina Ivanova

Assistants: Alina Hačetlova, Viktors Andruškevičs, Viktorija Samušonoka, Vitālijs Kapustins

The performance incorporates Aleksandrs Čaks’ poem Another Autumn Has Come, Arvīds Grigulis’ The Little Man with a Backpack and Alexander Pushkin’s To the Slanderers of Russia.

Organised and produced by: New East Culture Institute

Supported by: Baltic Centre for Media Excellence