Theatre
Skroderdienas Silmačos
Not translated into English
Rūdolfs Blaumanis · 1902
Synopsis
At the Silmači farm, Antonija, mistress of the house and a widow, is to marry Aleksis, who accepted her proposal although he loves the young Elīna. For the wedding, the tailor Dūdars and the seamstress Zāra move in with the apprentice Rūdis: they sew the groom's woollen suit and the dresses of Antonija and Elīna. The merchant Ābrams and his son Joske, Pindacīša and the farm people get mixed up in the fittings, the suspicions of theft and the stolen kisses.
Context
Written in 1901, the comedy was premiered on 30 January 1902 at the Latvian Society in Riga. Jānis Asars tore it apart in Dienas Lapa, other reviews are more favourable, and it was played only three times in the first season; the revival, five years later, is the last the author saw. The staging by Alfrēds Amtmanis-Briedītis and Voldemārs Kalpiņš, played some four hundred and fifty times, brought it back durably to Latvian stages, and since the one by Edmunds Freibergs at the National Theatre, in 1994, it accompanies the Midsummer festivities every year. It has also been performed in Lithuanian.
Who it is for
A rustic comedy with many characters, interspersed with songs. It helps to know that in Latvia it is performed every year at the summer solstice.
Prizes and reception
The most frequently staged play in Latvia, regarded by the Lithuanian encyclopedia as the most famous Latvian lyrical comedy.
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