“Siren's Song” premiered at the Puppet Theatre

Over the weekend, in the Pegasus Courtyard, the Liepāja Puppet Theatre presented its most ambitious new production of the season, an open-air musical performance “Siren’s Song”, written as the first part of the Greek myth trilogy “Boy. Girl. Siren”.

The title of each part of the trilogy is based on an ancient Greek myth, channelled into a well-known catchphrase, such as “Achilles' heel”, “Ariadne's thread” or “Siren's song”. The author and director of the performance, Anta Priedīte, has undertaken to unravel these Greek myths in creative collaboration with the set designer Aigars Ozoliņš and the composer Juris Kaukulis, revealing the origin and true meaning of each expression.

On Sunday evening, we witnessed the unravelling of the first myth in the Liepāja's Pegasus Courtyard. The “Siren's Song” set sail across the sea in an Odysseus-like wander and challenged the audience to match their bravery with Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the golden ram’s skin. As we know, Jason managed to survive on the musical mastery of his companion Orpheus, while Odysseus ordered that he be tied to the mast of the ship and that the other sailors plugged their ears with wax to escape the Sirens’ spell. In the struggle with the Sirens, the outcome so far favours our heroes, but can we, as modern people match the heroes of antiquity?

While the ancient culture considered the hero to be an absolute phenomenon and an ideal, today the concept of heroism has changed. The symbol of valour in today’s society is a person whose actions are unorthodox and not representative of the majority of society in everyday life. A hero is someone who can dare to capture the public's imagination with their beliefs, actions, personality, and stories, and create an image of themselves as one whose actions are worthy of copying. Valour has evolved into an element, not a status for life. “The modern model of heroism highlights the human in the antique hero, making him accessible for emulation and empathy. The fact that children are intuitively attracted to mythical, yet human heroes is evident from the popularity of cartoon characters. In all of them, the main character faces a choice between personal gain and the interests of others, experiences tragic loss, is forced to make sacrifices and ultimately reaches the end of the story in a transformed state. We need these stories not only for the development of a child's personality, but also for us adults to learn to analyse the moral and ethical aspects of our actions in an individual and societal context.”

The creative team of the show made it possible for the audience to choose which story to follow – an epic fairy tale, a musical event, or a deeply thoughtful values saga – by shaping the performance into a thrilling adventure where only the final twist brings a fateful, multi-layered outcome.

More information at: www.liepajaslelles.lv

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