For many years, Liepāja Theatre has opened its doors to audiences in the summer with its “Open Theatre Days,” inviting visitors to experience the theatre from behind the scenes. Last year, audiences also had the chance to see a guest performance by Klaipėda Drama Theatre – Eimuntas Nekrošius’ production The Children of the Sun. This year, the theatre takes it a step further by organizing its first international festival, “Theatre in Close-Up” from August 21 to 24. The festival is intended as an annual event, featuring an international lineup of performances from countries around the Baltic Sea, accompanied by a diverse side program including discussions on theatre art, presentations of performance ideas, play readings from playwright residencies, and other activities. Some events will be free of charge.
This year, the festival will take place in several venues: Liepāja Theatre, the small hall of the “Great Amber” concert hall, and the Daugava Sports Hall, for which the theatre thanks the Liepāja Olympic Centre. The program will feature five foreign productions:
- From Poland: Fantasy by TR Warszawa (August 22)
- From Finland: The Porn Horror Musical 2 by Glitcher (August 22) and The Gymnast Girls by Teatteri Takomo (August 23)
- From Lithuania: This Will Pass by Teatras Atviras ratas (August 23) and Patina by Šiauliai Drama Theatre (festival finale on August 24)
The festival will open on August 21 with the Liepāja Theatre premiere of The Loneliest Sheep in the World.
Performances will be in Polish, Finnish, Lithuanian, and English, with Latvian subtitles provided. The Liepāja Theatre performance will include English subtitles. After each show, Q&A sessions with the creative teams will take place.
“The most significant event of the festival is the first-ever visit to Latvia by one of Poland’s leading theatres – TR Warszawa. Their production Fantasy explores the relationship between actor, text, and audience in theatre. In a witty manner, it challenges viewers to reflect on how much their belief and imagination influence what the actor feels and performs on stage.
The company Glitcher draws inspiration for The Porn Horror Musical 2 from the most exploitative genres in culture, raising provocative questions about what ‘entertainment’ means in each genre mentioned in the title. The performance gradually evolves from a comedic show to a poignant exploration of human desire.
Teatteri Takomo’s The Gymnast Girls has become one of the most acclaimed and popular Finnish productions of the past season.
Justas Tertelis’s solo show, This Will Pass, is an autobiographical piece. Through his theatre-making journey over the years, he questions how, after forty, one can avoid cynicism and still find value in each painful and joyful moment of life and creativity.
The festival concludes with Patina, directed by Eglė Švedauskaitė – one of the most important new-generation directors in Lithuania, whose works are regularly ranked among the most significant of the year,” says artistic director Valters Sīlis about the international productions.
The full festival program is available on the Liepāja Theatre website under the section “FESTIVALS 2025.”
Theatre professionals are especially encouraged to attend and can apply until July 17 via a form on the website to receive special ticket prices.
The project “Liepāja Theatre Festival “Theatre in Close-Up”” is implemented as part of the “Liepāja 2027” program, with funding from the Ministry of Culture, the Liepāja City Municipality, and the municipalities of South Kurzeme and Kuldīga.