December, in Riga, Latvia. Opening its main entrance Dailes Theatre (the Soviet Union’s dowry to the city in a modern, post-war style) a wave of warm air relieves frozen faces and whatever else is left of the cold Baltic air. Tall, very tall people – most of them young – surround you by the hundreds; and that, you think, is a problem if one, just one of them, sits in the front seat from yours to see the “Rohtko”the new direction of the ever-rising Pole and his student Christian Lupa, Lucas Tarkovsky.

However, Tarkovsky, who – four hours later will have entered the short list of European directors that you must see again – has created a performance that draws the viewer’s attention in an unexpected way. Live cameras capturing the rich, on-stage action feed seven meter screens composing a spectacular, hybrid event. It looks like you have, already, sat at the tables of the Chinese restaurant in Queens of New Yorkby Mark Rothko fellow scientist – and, no, the tall Latvian men and women have long escaped your attention.

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