Monstera Deliciosa is a creeping vine with huge, serrated leaves that has been a popular decoration in clinics, schools, libraries, apartments and private homes for more than 30 years. Under favourable conditions, the monstera grows rapidly and expands to fill the space around it. Nurturing plants and the well-being of others – the invisible day to day work of care is also carried out by the women around us, filling the empty spaces in the social landscape. Monstera Deliciosa brings together on stage four women from different generations to tell their own stories while singing the stories of other women. In a densely packed soundscape coexists the everyday worries of a public toilet attendant and the environmental concerns of a young ecofeminist, the desire to balance and strengthen the sometimes fragile bonds that unite and hold us together. The libretto was created by meeting and listening to women living in Latvia and Estonia who take care of plants and people around them in their daily lives, while the original music was created by transforming the genre of chamber opera through the tradition of choral singing that Latvians and Estonians share. Between the black earth and the plastic flowers, the creative team is looking for ways to grow, flourish and be with each other in the world we inhabit. Monstera Deliciosa was nominated for two Latvian theatre awards (for best small form work and new musical work) for the season of 2023/2024.

Credits

Directed and libretto by: Barbara Lehtna (EE)

Dramaturg, assistant to the director: Linda Krūmiņa

Composer: Līva Blūma

Music and sound director: Lilita Dunska

Set and costume designer: Karolina Poska (EE)

Assistant to the set designer: Signija Joce

Lights: Jūlija Bondarenko

Soloists: Kristīne Fedotova, Ilze Kalniņa, Marta Lortkipanidze, Kristīne Medne

Piano: Līga Paegle

Percussion instruments: Karīna Mazūra

Latvian translation of the libretto by Anna Auziņa

Funded and supported by 

Produced by Ģertrūdes ielas teātris, alternative chamber music festival “Sansusī”, Real Life Company (EE), Paide Teater (EE).