Elmārs Seņkovs

Valmieras theatre (LATVIA / VALMIERA)

Premiere: 12.06.2026.

Author: Rūdolfs Blaumanis

Director – Elmārs Seņkovs
Set Designer – Reinis Suhanovs
Costume Designer – Ilze Vītoliņa
Movement Director – Elīna Gediņa
Lighting Designer – Oskars Pauliņš
Composer – Edgars Mākens

What is revealed when Rūdolfs Blaumanis’ The Tailors at Silmači is approached like any other play — without the stereotypes created by beloved traditional interpretations?

Director Elmārs Seņkovs is ready to challenge himself and the audience by looking at The Tailors at Silmači from a fresh perspective.

“If it is said that every director must stage Hamlet, then every Latvian director should stage The Tailors at Silmači. It is a challenge because the play carries an enormous layer of audience expectations and established perceptions. I want to look more closely at certain scenes that are often overlooked or even deliberately avoided,” says director Elmārs Seņkovs.

With this production, the director invites the audience to perhaps discover something new — or to see this beloved play from a different angle.

PREMIERE: 14.04.2026.

Concept by Elmārs Seņkovs and Reinis Suhanovs

Director Elmārs Seņkovs

Set and Costume Designer Reinis Suhanovs

Music by Heðin Ziska Davidsen

Performed by actors of the Faroe Islands National Theatre Tjóðpallur Føroya: Kristina Sørensen Ougaard, Kristina Sundar Hansen, Rannvá Guðrunardóttir Niclasen and Búi Rouch.

A poetic and playful exploration of what it means to be together when you are lost.

In an indeterminate place that may not even exist, five different travellers meet. The only thing they have in common is a hole.

Inspiration, confusion, uncertainty and artificial determination are all part of the creative process. It begins cautiously. You take the first steps, then become absorbed, lose your way, reach a dead end, and search for new solutions. And then you encounter the hole. A deep space that has appeared unexpectedly. It is frightening, yet at the same time irresistibly inviting. A hole may be emptiness, but perhaps it is also another dimension. Sometimes you want to patch it up. But what could possibly fill it? There is never only one right answer. Perhaps that is precisely what drives us to strive for perfection.

The most important thing in the creative process is not to be afraid. The creative current will take you somewhere. Or, at the very least, you will meet new companions who will make the journey even more exciting. It may not always be smooth, but it will be alive and creative.

Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre (RIGA)

Premier: 27.02.2026.

Director
Elmārs Seņkovs

Dramaturge
Justīne Kļava

Composer
Edgars Mākens

Set Designer
Adriāns Toms Kulpe

Costume Designers
Felicita Gāga and Alisa Ontensone

Lighting Designer
Oskars Pauliņš

Translator
Lina Ovčiņņikova

Production Manager
Svetlana Voroņecka

Assistant Director
Sergejs Smikovs

Actors

What would happen if, at the most sophisticated restaurant in one of Riga’s neighbourhoods, the bride’s grandmother at a young couple’s wedding were to meet her former son-in-law and his new, ageing girlfriend?

What should the wedding host do if, just minutes before the celebration begins, it turns out that her husband is unable to provide the musical accompaniment because he has not yet recovered from the previous festivities? How should the groom react when the bride’s best friend confesses her feelings for him during a wedding toast?

A wedding cake, exciting games and dancing from dusk until dawn! While the newlyweds celebrate and look towards the future with optimism, the rest of the family members cannot resist the temptation to use this rare reunion as an opportunity to revisit unresolved relationships from the past.

Just when it seems that all conflicts have been put aside, an unexpected guest arrives, and everyone must do their best to ensure that the wedding celebration does not turn into a funeral feast.

Valmieras theatre (LATVIA / VALMIERA)

Premiere: 30.01.2026.

Author: Justas Tertelis (Lithuania)

Director – Elmārs Seņkovs
Assistant Director – Aksels Aizkalns
Costume Designer – Ilze Vītoliņa
Lighting Designer – Gatis Priednieks

A young man from the small Latvian town of Kandava fulfils one of his dreams — to become an actor. This is a story about the birth of an actor, about a journey in search of an answer to a simple yet profound question: what does it really take to call yourself one?

He challenges himself to stand before an audience, take his first step onto the stage and begin his journey in theatre. But what does such a beginning require? Courage? Dissatisfaction? Inspiration? Perhaps all of these at once.

The Beginning is at once humorous and poignant — a deeply personal story about a young man's ambition to reach the heights of theatre while trying to discover who he truly is. Will he succeed? This is only the beginning, but it is precisely this moment that matters most.

Although the stage of Valmiera Theatre is no longer unfamiliar to the young actor Kristaps Kristers Ozols in his debut season, this occasion is a special one. He has created this solo performance together with director Elmārs Seņkovs, his former teacher, and assistant director Aksels Aizkalns—an actor of Valmiera Theatre and Kristaps's theatre godfather. Together, they search for that singular moment: the instant before the performance begins.

What is this moment? Can it become the turning point that changes a life? From this very instant, his journey begins.