Dailes Theatre stages Irish playwright McPherson's "Shining City"

New production at Dailes Theatre

The Dailes Theatre's New Hall has premiered "Shining City" ("Mirdzošā pilsēta"), a play by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, staged by director Dmitrijs Petrenko.

The play's title is taken from a New Testament passage, which might suggest a religious work. However, the production is not religious — at its core, it offers a psychoanalytical look at the human inner world.

One of the play's central characters is a former priest. The story centers on figures and apparitions conjured by conscience that appear during a process of psychotherapy — the production explores how unresolved inner turmoil and guilt can take shape in a person's mind as they try to come to terms with their past.

This character — a former clergyman himself confronting inner demons — allows the play to bring together questions of faith, guilt and psychological healing without offering clear-cut answers. McPherson's work thus becomes food for thought rather than a religious message.

"Shining City" is part of the theatre's current season repertoire and belongs to a wider trend of Latvian theatre productions recently turning to psychological and existential themes. The staging is also featured in a broader roundup of new Latvian theatre productions introducing audiences to the latest premieres at the country's theatres.