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Riga’s Ģertrūde Street Theatre is presenting a new contemporary movement performance that places personal memory at the centre of the stage. BOY–OY, created and performed by choreographer Vladimirs Goršantovs, premieres on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, at the independent theatre on Ģertrūdes iela.
The premiere is one of the latest additions to Riga’s autumn performing-arts programme. According to the theatre’s ticketing information, the production lasts 50 minutes and will receive further performances on 15 October as well as on 3 and 4 November. Latvia’s Ministry of Culture has also listed the 14 October premiere in its official public calendar.
A performance built from memory
Theatre materials describe BOY–OY as an autobiographical performance about growing up, family stories and memories passed from one generation to another. Rather than presenting the subject as a conventional biography, the production uses movement and stage composition to explore how recollections are carried through the body.
That approach places the work within the broad field of contemporary dance and movement theatre, where gesture, rhythm, space and physical presence can communicate alongside spoken text. The production’s central question is not simply what happened in the performer’s past, but how a personal history changes when it is remembered, retold and embodied on stage.
For audiences, this makes the work less a conventional narrative drama than a concentrated encounter with physical theatre. The theatre’s English-language listing identifies Goršantovs as the creator, choreographer and performer, while Andrejs Jarovojs is credited with dramaturgy. The production therefore combines a performer-led stage concept with a separate dramaturgical structure.
A collaborative production
The production brings together artists from several creative disciplines. Marianna Lapiņa is responsible for costume and set design, while Ernests Valts Circenis composed the music. Reinis Zalte is credited with lighting design, and Dārta Ašmane with make-up. The visual identity was developed by Lapiņa and Kaspars Zborovskis.
This list of roles reflects the collaborative nature of small-scale contemporary theatre. A movement work may begin with the performer’s physical language, but its final form also depends on the relationship between the body, sound, light, costume and the space in which the audience encounters it.
BOY–OY is produced by Ģertrūdes ielas teātris, with support from the contemporary-dance association SIXTH and the dance organisation TUVUMI. The theatre’s listing also states that the production received financial support from Latvia’s State Culture Capital Foundation and Riga City Council.
Riga’s independent theatre scene
The premiere adds a compact, artist-led work to Riga’s cultural calendar at a time when theatres across the city are presenting new autumn productions. Unlike a large repertory production, a 50-minute movement performance can focus closely on one performer and one artistic idea. Its scale also allows the theatre to treat the stage as an intimate meeting place rather than as a backdrop for a large ensemble.
That intimacy is particularly relevant to a work concerned with family memory. The audience is invited to follow a physical and emotional thread rather than a sequence of large dramatic events. The result, according to the production description, is a life drama shaped through choreography, dramaturgy, visual design and music.
The title BOY–OY is presented without an explanatory subtitle in the theatre’s listings. This leaves room for the performance itself to define the relationship between its title, its movement vocabulary and its autobiographical material.
Premiere dates and venue
The premiere begins at 19:00 on 14 October at Ģertrūdes ielas teātris, Ģertrūdes iela 101a, Riga. The next listed performance is on 15 October, followed by shows on 3 and 4 November. Ticket information published by the theatre lists standard admission at €20, a discounted rate of €15 and a support ticket priced at €40.
With its emphasis on memory, movement and intergenerational storytelling, BOY–OY offers Riga audiences a focused example of contemporary Latvian performance-making: a small-format production in which the performer’s own history becomes the material for a wider theatrical conversation.
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