The Dailes Theatre () is a professional Latvian theater founded by Latvian director and actor Eduards Smiļģis (1886-1966) on November 19, 1920 at the Craftsmen Relief Society House at Lāčplēša Street 25,

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. Today, it is located at Brīvības Street 75, Riga, Latvia in functionalism architecture style building with three halls: large hall, small hall and chamber hall. It is typical for the theater to stage large-scale and dramatically tense performances of the form, as well as talk about significant personalities of history and culture of its time. According to the director these performances reflect the guidelines set out in the theatrical motto - clarity, simplicity, passion. The theater repertoire includes works by both Latvian and foreign authors.

History

The founder and first principal director of Dailes Theater is Eduards Smiļģis. Smiļģis’ first assistants were motion consultant Felicita Ertnere (1891-1975), stage designer Jānis Muncis (1886-1955) and musical director Burhards Sosārs (1890-1953). The theater style has always been different from that so-called natural-psychological theater style. According to the principal director Smiļģis, the theater “does not strive for a complete illusion (and the actor is not a life imitator), but, while making plays, creates a reality of art that is higher than the reality of life.” The first year of the theater was difficult in the material sense, since everything was based only on employee enthusiasm, but the money was gradually raised and the theater gained the audience's appreciation. The first performance of the Dailes Theater was the production of

Rainis Jānis Pliekšāns (11 September 1865 – 11 September 1929), known by his pseudonym Rainis, was a Latvian Poetry, poet, playwright, Translation, translator, and politics, politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays ''Uguns un nakts'' ('' ...

' play "Indulis and Ārija". Eduards Smiļģis chose the repertoire for theater of both the ambitious works of Latvian authors - Rainis,

Aspazija Aspazija was the pen name of Elza Johanna Emilija Lizete Pliekšāne (née Elza Rozenberga; 16 March 1865 – 5 November 1943), a Latvian poet and playwright. Aspazija is the Latvian transliteration of Aspasia. Biography Aspazija was born ...

, Anna Brigadere, Andrejs Upītis and other works of the world classics - plays by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

, Karl Goldon, as well as dramatizing the latest generation of dramatists in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Building and location

For the first 57 years, the theater's residence was at the Craftsmen Relief Society House at Lāčplēša Street 25, Riga, Latvia (today New Riga Theater is located there). In 1959 the architect Marta Staņa (1913-1972) won a competition organized by Smiļģis and created a new building project located at Brīvības Street 75, Riga, Latvia. The Dailes Theater is one of the most significant buildings in Latvian architectural history, it is included in Latvian Cultural Canon. Theater is built in the style of functionalism architecture, making it different from other Latvian theaters. The building is characterized by a consistent, functionally differentiated volume arrangement and spacious, interconnected rooms. The main facade of the theater forms a glassed viewer's lobby, stretching along Brīvības Street. Above it there is a theatrical logotype interpreted by the sculptor Ojārs Feldbergs (born in 1947). The lobby of the dark bricks contrasts with the bright concrete and glass surfaces on the wide front floor. There are three halls in the Dailes Theater building: * Large hall (up to 980 seats); * Small hall (up to 197 seats); * Chamber hall (up to 83 seats). The Large hall is devoted to the widest range of performances, attracting a wide audience of viewers: dramas, comedies, tragedies, musical performances, children's shows and for concerts, whereas the Chamber hall and the Small hall are devoted to close-up psychological studies, experimental productions and quests for theater aesthetics.

References

{{Authority control Theatres in Riga Buildings and structures in Riga 1920 establishments in Latvia