Actress Agnese Jekabsone: Rape-Survivor Monodrama Is Her Greatest Challenge

Agnese Jēkabsone, an actress at the Liepāja Theatre in Latvia, discusses her recent roles in an interview with the newspaper Diena. They are the one-woman show Prima Facie, which premiered on 10 October, and a role from last season in the production Freimanis. The Spēlmaņu nakts ceremony, Latvia's annual theatre awards, takes place on 23 November, and she is nominated as best actress of the 2025/2026 season for playing Liene Raudupiete in director Mārtiņš Eihe's production Trīs bēres un divas kāzas (Three Funerals and Two Weddings).

A monodrama about trauma

Prima Facie is a play by Suzie Miller, staged by director Inese Mičule. Its protagonist, Tessa Ensler, is a criminal defence barrister who also defends people accused of rape. After she herself becomes a victim of sexual violence, she experiences the justice system from the complainant's side and finds that legal truth does not always match what a person has lived through.

Jēkabsone says the role is her biggest challenge because she is alone on stage, with no partner to share the load. After the premiere she wanted to go home to her family. She explains the pace of the show by the play's dramaturgy: it runs about a hundred minutes, leaving no room for pauses. In the Small Hall the audience sits very close, so she can see their reactions, including tears.

The actress hopes the production will help women who have stayed silent about trauma for years to speak about it. In her view, many feel ashamed and blame themselves.

A role without words

Jēkabsone names the dog Pepe in director Mārtiņš Kalita's production Freimanis as her favourite role of last season, and she does not speak in it. To prepare, she read books written from a dog's perspective, watched films about dogs and studied how deaf and mute people communicate. She finally concluded that a dog mirrors its owner, played by actor Valts Skuja.

The interview took place at the Liepāja Theatre on 17 October.