The International Festival of Contemporary Theatre Homo Novus will take place from 4–12 September 2026, revolving around rest, care, and the conscious slowing down of life’s pace. Festival events will unfold along the banks of the River Daugava from Krāslava to Rīga, in a sand dune, museum and at other locations across Latvia.
This year’s programme invites audiences to focus on mutual care, togetherness, and human connection at a time when everyday life is increasingly shaped by speed, tension, and information overload. Festival organisers are placing particular emphasis on creating a safe and welcoming environment for audiences, artists, and the festival team alike.
“We want to create a gentle refuge and a place of resilience in a world affected by multiple crises,” says festival curator Santa Remere. “This is why we are presenting a programme that encourages creativity and collective reflection without relying on excessive consumption, immediate results, or constant entertainment. We are also experimenting with new organisational, production, and artistic practices, because we believe culture can inspire change in society – but meaningful change must begin with ourselves and our immediate working environments.”
From Identity and Belonging to Family and School Relationships
From 4–20 September, visitors to the Latvian National Museum of Art will be able to experience Girls to the Right, Boys to the Left, a theatre exhibition by Prague-based artists Sodja Zupanc Lotker and Tadeáš Říha. Addressing bullying, body shaming, exclusion, and belonging, the exhibition features six-metre-tall puppets travelling to Rīga from the Prague City Museum. Visitors will be invited to touch the figures, sit in their laps, and share their own stories. The exhibition is aimed primarily at younger audiences and anyone who has experienced bullying at school.
A major festival highlight will be Dainas (pron. daïnas) presented at the New Hall of Dailes Theatre. The performance is a collaboration between internationally acclaimed French theatre director Jonathan Capdevielle and stage artist Dimitri Doré, one of the most distinctive voices of a new generation of French theatre and cinema. Doré’s family roots trace back to Latvia, providing the starting point for this autobiographical work, which weaves together memories, personal identity, and family histories through an experimental stage language.
The festival will also welcome Belgian artist Sarah Vanhee, one of the leading figures in contemporary participatory performance. Known for creating encounters that emerge from real-life situations, Vanhee will collaborate with Latvian artists Marija Luīze Meļķe and Estere Betija Grāvere on Words Service – a series of one-to-one meetings designed to help participants find words for thoughts and feelings that are often difficult to express.
The Daugava River at the Heart of the Festival
Throughout the festival, the symbolic backbone of the programme will be River Tours. Daugava, a performance created by the British collective Stan’s Cafe together with Latvian artists Diāna Kondraša, Rvīns Varde, and Ūna Laukmane, in collaboration with communities living along the river.
Inspired by traditional storytelling practices, the performance will travel each day to a different open-air location on the banks of the Daugava, including Krāslava, Daugavpils, Slutišķi, Nīcgale, Līvāni, Jēkabpils, Staburags, and Rīga. All performances will be free of charge. Detailed schedules and locations will be announced in August.
The festival will conclude on 11 and 12 September with Sandflight, a visually striking outdoor performance by Norwegian choreographer Ingri Fiksdal. Inviting audiences to imagine a world in which the boundaries between humans, landscape, and time have gradually dissolved, the performance will transform a large sand quarry embankment into a symbolic stage inhabited by eight dancers and a mixed choir conducted by Patriks Kārlis Stepe.
Accessibility for Diverse Audiences
As in previous years, the festival is committed to making its programme accessible to people with mobility, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. Several projects will involve members of the blind and visually impaired community, including tactile tours and audio-described performances.
The festival will also host workshops and masterclasses led by international artists and experts dedicated to improving accessibility in the performing arts sector.
Festival Centre and Ticket Information
The festival centre will once again host a range of free events, artist presentations, professional discussions, and the festival school led by James Leadbitter (the vacuum cleaner). The festival programme will also feature works by WAUHAUS (Finland), Jana Jacuka (Latvia), Veronika Abdul-Visocka (Latvia), Flavia Zaganelli (Italy), Maike Lond (Estonia), Jo Bannon (United Kingdom), Lea Kokovič (Slovenia), and others. Tickets for festival performances will be released gradually via apmekle.lv, while the full festival programme will be announced in August.
Homo Novus is produced by the New Theatre Institute of Latvia, a non-governmental organisation working locally and internationally in the fields of contemporary theatre and performance.
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