Theatre
Sprīdītis
Not translated into English
Anna Brigadere · 1903
Synopsis
Sprīdītis, a tiny boy, lives on a Latvian farm under the thumb of a harsh stepmother; only his grandmother and Lienīte support him. Tired of the reproaches, he sets off to seek his fortune, promising to find a treasure and build a palace. On the way, the Mother of the Wind gives him a magic whistle, with which he makes the giant Lutausis dance, the Mother of the Forest gives him a twig to which one sticks fast, and he helps an old man at the home of the miser Sīkstulis, before learning that a king is promising his daughter Zeltīte to whoever stands up to the devil.
Context
It is its author's first play and her most popular, premiered in 1903 at the Latvian theatre in Riga by Jēkabs Duburs, then printed in Riga in 1904 by G. Schönfeldt as a play for children. The Lithuanian encyclopaedia reads in it the influence of folk tales and of the symbolism of Maurice Maeterlinck. Gunārs Piesis brought it to the screen in the mid-eighties, with the Riga studios and Barrandov in Prague, and the final song of his film, composed by Imants Kalniņš to words by Imants Ziedonis and Māra Zālīte, entered the repertoire of the Latvian song festivals.
Who it is for
A fairy play for children, with many characters. It helps to know that its figures come from Latvian folk tales.
Prizes and reception
Her most popular play, adapted for the cinema; the film's final song is sung again at the song festivals.
Sources for this page 2
The pages consulted to check this page.