## Do You Remember How It All Started Adolf Yakovlevich is a unique personality, and in this case, the extraordinary situation that has developed is also unique. They say that "a bomb does not hit the same funnel twice," but here it did! After all, we all remember how in 1992 the Riga Youth Theatre, led by Shapiro, was closed. Let’s not recall who is to blame and leave Raimonds Pauls alone, who signed the order to close the troupe during his time as Minister of Culture of the Latvian Republic. There was a whole complex of problems that led to the disappearance of the legendary theater, which, by the way, was also related to the position of the director himself, who at the last moment refused to undergo certification in the Ministry of Culture, which all the heads of Latvian theaters were undergoing at that time. Well, the Maestro couldn't hold back, and that was the last straw. And Adolf Yakovlevich himself went to the First Capital, where he had already been for a long time with one foot. He staged productions in leading theaters in Moscow – in the Vakhtangov Theatre, in the Moscow Art Theatre named after Chekhov. Moreover, he staged with greats – Yulia Borisova, Vasily Lanovoy, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Oleg Tabakov, Natalia Tenyakova… What names! At that time, it was even an honor to settle in the theatrical Mecca of that peaceful time, having left the provincial (again at that time) Riga. Shapiro clearly dreamed of sitting in two chairs, but... it didn’t work out. He became a citizen of Russia, received an apartment (sold his Riga one on Krišjānis Valdemārs) – in general, he settled down firmly. He rarely came to the Latvian capital – for example, for the funerals of colleagues. He stubbornly refused Latvian offers, although, according to him (and this is true!), such offers came literally from all Riga theaters, including the Opera. ## The Return of the Prodigal Director But decades passed, and in 2015, a great miracle indeed happened – Adolf Yakovlevich entered the building of his native theater for the first time, where the New Riga Theatre (NRT) is now located. They showed Alvis Hermanis' production "Brodsky/Baryshnikov" with the genius Mikhail Baryshnikov in the only and main role. Shapiro was awarded the Commander’s Order of Three Stars. And last year, there was an even more triumphant return of the living 86-year-old classic – Hermanis managed to persuade the maestro to stage a production at NRT. And in February of this year, the premiere of "Don Quixote" took place. A true success! In June of this year, the maestro was rightfully nominated by the Union of Theatre Workers of Latvia for the main theatrical award of the country in two categories – "Director of the Year" and "Large-Scale Performance of the Year." ## Rejected But two days after the jury's decision, the "Night of Actors" suddenly changed its decision, shocking the theatrical public with the announcement that "due to the visit of director Adolf Shapiro to Moscow, to the Moscow Art Theatre named after A. P. Chekhov, Adolf Shapiro in the category 'Director of the Year' and the performance 'Don Quixote' in the category 'Large-Scale Performance of the Year' have been excluded from the list of nominees for the 'Night of Actors.'" The jury particularly emphasized that while Russia continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it considers it impossible to publicly recognize the merits of artists who participate in official events in Russia. Although there were reports long before the Riga jury nominated the classic that the unfortunate evening (by the way, truly creative, by no means political!) at the Moscow Art Theatre named after Chekhov would take place. What happened? Could it be that the special services suddenly woke up and reported that the director had arrived at the Moscow theatre? The very theatre where Shapiro has actually been working for decades, and where he has historically lived in the capital of vast Russia. Or did the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, which saw the return (for now, for three months until the elections) of the representative of the National Alliance, Nauris Puntulis, contribute to the secondary explosion "in the funnel named after Shapiro?" Anything is possible. ## Reaction It should be noted that many representatives of the Latvian intelligentsia reacted with indignation to the ambiguous decision of the local theatrical jury. In particular, after the public statement of the jury of the "Night of Actors," actor Gundars Aboliņš and set designer Mārtiņš Vilkārsi, who designed "Don Quixote," refused their nominations. "To the Board of LTDS (Union of Theatre Workers) and the jury of the 'Night of Actors,' – wrote Mr. Aboliņš. – I hereby inform you that I refuse the nomination for the 'Night of Actors – 2026' in the category 'Actor of the Year' for my work in the New Riga Theatre's performance 'Don Quixote.' Please exclude me from the official list of nominees! I believe that this decision of the jury is unprofessional, cowardly, and politically motivated. Adolf Shapiro is one of my teachers in this profession, so I stand with my teacher. Thus, we repeated the mistake we made thirty years ago!" Following this, there was also a message from set designer Vilkārsi: "To clarify: today I sent the jury of the 'Night of Actors' and the board of LTDS a statement of my refusal of the nomination 'Set Designer of the Year' for the New Riga Theatre's performance 'Don Quixote' directed by Adolf Shapiro. I cannot and do not intend to separate my work from the performance or from what the DIRECTOR has done." Latvian writer Arvils Kolmanis even expressed himself directly on social media: "Idiots. Idiots." Comments from Shapiro are not to be expected – he has already experienced so much 30 years ago that he is used to it. Although his new visits to Latvia, where he worked for several decades, are also not to be expected. After all, he does not have Latvian citizenship – he is a citizen of Russia, which is hard to blame him for. But, according to some reports, he also has an Israeli passport, which allows him to enter our country freely. ## You Can’t Remove Words from a Play To summarize. The jury's decision to withdraw the nominations coincided with the time when the aforementioned Mr. Puntulis returned to the head of the Ministry of Culture. As is known, he issued an order prohibiting the use of the Russian language in subordinate institutions. And these are theaters, museums, libraries, and so on. Many quite justifiably assume that all this is a consequence of the effectively started election campaign. On Friday, the minister visited Daugavpils, where the Daugavpils Theatre is located, which also stages plays in Russian. The minister met with its management - Oleg Shaposhnikov and Rita Strode. "During the meeting, the theatre's future plans were discussed, as well as the order issued by the minister on June 25, which requires the ministry, its subordinate institutions, and capital companies not to allow the use of the Russian language in the performance of official duties – in particular, not to use the Russian language in advertising, on official websites, in supported or implemented projects, as well as when organizing international events," the Ministry of Culture reported. There, however, they added that the minister assured the theatre management that the dramatic material of the performance in Russian should be considered as an original creative work and that the restrictions established by the order do not apply to it. After which the cultural minister visited the military base of the National Armed Forces in Lūznava, Rezekne region, where he participated in an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. Curtain!