Normal Cake Please in Riga 1—3 October

Proud to share the church stairs with Nina, Jamie and Ivo. photo by Jonna Wikström

Fictional queer wedding. You are a wedding guest, urged to gossip with other wedding guests and taught some easy dance movements to use in the ceremony.

The third version of Normal Cake, Please took place at The Anglican Church of the Holy Saviour in Riga, Latvia, on 1—3 October, 2022, as a part of Performing and audiovisual arts festival The Autumn of the Patriarch program!

The site specific, English speaking Normal Cake, Please is a fictional wedding in two acts taking place in four intimate spaces and a church. In the intimate spaces you get to see two of the four main characters preparing for the wedding. Then you experience the wedding ceremony in the church. The underlining aim is open a space with the audience to queer normality and normalise queer.

The performance is lightly participatory. You are a wedding guest, urged to gossip with other wedding guests and taught some easy dance movements to use in the ceremony.

Normal Cake, Please saw it’s premiere in Helsinki, Finland, at St Paul’s Church in July, 2021, and before the end of the month it was also performed in Helsingør, Denmark, at Our Lady Monastery. The performance is a collaboration between Finnish, Danish and Latvian live art professionals produced by Uneasy Listening Society (DK). The performances in Riga are supported by Latvian Academy of Culture, Nordic Council of Ministers, Ministry of Culture Denmark and Kone Foundation.

Performances on Sat 1 at 19.00, Sun 2 at 20.00 and Mon 3 at 19.00.

LTV.LV reportage 3.10.2022
Photo by Jānis Leščinskis

The Normal Cake Riga

ANGELA—Nina Larissa Bassett
JACK—Jamie MacDonald
LEO—Janne Saarakkala
VIESTURS—Ivo Briedis
PRIESTESSES—SkujaBraden (Ingūna Skuja & Melissa Braden)
BESTMAIDS—Vladimir Gorshantov, Paula Koivunen, Didzis Ruicēns, Signe Valtiņa

Concept: Bassett, Briedis, MacDonald, Saarakkala
Script: Bassett, Briedis, MacDonald, Saarakkala & SkujaBraden
Direction: Bassett, Briedis, MacDonald, Saarakkala, Janne Pellinen
Choreography: Kira Riikonen & working group in Riga
Costumes, props & visuals: Paula Koivunen
Lights & sound: Niks Cipruss
Musician: Marko Ojala
Production: Rita Ruduša, Anna Ulberte, Kristine Freiberga

Music: Thomas Burø: Punk Organ Music; The Cure: Plainsong, Just Like Heaven; Depeche Mode: Somebody

Blessing dance for Jack and Leo. Photo: Jānis Leščinskis
Angela preparing for the wedding ceremony. Photo: Jānis Leščinskis
The priestesses. Photo: Aija Melbārde
Ivo Briedis and Viesturs preparing for the wedding ceremony. Photo: Aija Melbārde
On the way to the altar. Photo: Aija Melbārde
The Bestmaids. Photo: Jānis Leščinskis