Mary Stuart - A Play Of Strength, Passion and Love

On Sunday, Sandra and me together with more than 20 other Stelpians went by bus to Riga to see this play by Friedrich Schiller staged in Latvian theater The Daile (Dailes teātris).

The steel-hard queens get suddenly weak when confronted with ... human love.

A real dilemma is that of Queen Elisabeth when she has to decide whether or not to execute Mary Stuart who is not only a dethroned Scottish queen, dangerous even in imprisonment, bound to stir up a bloodshed for thousands if released, but she is also the half sister of Queen Elisabeth. More to that, the execution could dramatically impair the people's support to the ruling queen since she risks to appear revengeful and miserable.

Elisabeth backs out but her loyal noblemen still get the Scottish queen executed.

But the story is much more complex and colorful than just the dilemma and the execution.

The Daile actors show us with great skill how being executed can be a triumph in the same time, how failing to decide may be at times the wisest decision of all, and how weak can those rock-hard ladies become when they fall in Love.

A fantastic, unforgettable staging. We notice that such appear on the scenes in times when the nation has sufferings. When the times get better and the average Latvian is comparatively well-off, the theater stagings get ... shallow.

But this is a fantastic piece. We actually could not come back to ourselves even the whole next day.

It felt so warm in our heart to see our dear Olga Dreģe playing the servant of Scottish Mary. We still breathe with that deep emotion she gave us when visiting our school on the Poetry Afternoon. After having met her face to face here, it felt different to see her on the big stage of the Daile.

Visit the Mary Stuart page at the Daile site. It is in Latvian though, but there are pictures and even a video.

Poetry Evening "When Heart From Love Breaks"

Picture: Olga Dreģe (center), the megastar of the Latvian theater, together with those having contributed to the content of the Poetry Evening.
Second line from left: Mārīte Kviešone, Nijole Ķerūde, Valentīna Rūtiņa
First line from left: Sandra Neliusa, Aleksandra Hadžimoratova, Olga Dreģe, Māra Lagzdiņa, Līga Karpinska

Olga Dreģe is by all means one of the brightest ever Latvian theater stars. For many decades, she has been enjoying love from all the nation having played several hundred roles in theater the Daile. She has featured also a few outstanding movie characters.

But this evening (October 8) she was visiting Stelpe School. Using poems of one of the most celebrated Latvian poetess Ārija Elksne, Olga led us on a delicate path of the deeper values of everybody's soul. She spoke a lot about a Home in the broader sense of this word, and the love for Latvia as our homeland. The professionalism and the true emotion she was putting into what she was saying, made tears appear in the eyes of nearly everyone.

The intimate air and deep emotional poetry was reinforced by wonderful music played by pianist Līga Karpinska and cellist Māra Lagzdiņa. These two ladies already start feeling at home in Stelpe since they are quite frequent guests on different occasions.