Inta Tirole and Juris Bartkevics to receive Latvian theatre awards for lifetime achievement

The Latvian Theatre Workers' Union (LTDS) will give this year's "For Lifetime Contribution to the Performing Arts" awards to Inta Tirole, an actress at the Latvian National Theatre, and Juris Bartkevics, an actor at the Daile Theatre. The awards will be presented on 23 November at the Daile Theatre in Riga, during the "Spēlmaņu nakts" ceremony, Latvia's annual theatre awards.

This will be the 33rd ceremony and covers the 2025/2026 season. It is organised by LTDS with support from the Ministry of Culture, the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation and Riga City Council. The recipients of the lifetime award are chosen by the LTDS board.

Inta Tirole

Tirole joined the Latvian National Theatre in 1960 after finishing theatre studies, 66 years ago. In her first years she was given many roles that suited her playfulness and girlish manner. Later there were fewer parts, but she kept up her creative activity by developing her own projects, mainly one-person shows. Audiences remember them through works such as "Shirley Valentine", "Vīrieši man sirdi plosa", "Tāda dzīve", "The Book Club" and "Šampinjonu derība".

Tirole is the oldest actress still performing in Latvian theatres. A week ago she played her newest role on the main stage, in Ināra Slucka's production "All About Eve", as the closest aide to the stage diva Margo Channing.

Juris Bartkevics

Bartkevics has a career of more than fifty years linked to the Liepāja Theatre and the Daile Theatre. From 1970 to 2004 he worked at the Liepāja Theatre, becoming one of Oļģerts Kroders's actors and creative allies. In Kroders's productions he played, among others, Hamlet and Claudius, Trigorin in "The Seagull" and the title role in "Peer Gynt". From 1996 to 2004 Bartkevics was artistic director of the Liepāja Theatre and also performed the duties of director, as well as staging productions himself.

Since 2004 he has been an actor at the Daile Theatre. His most internationally visible role is Mark Rothko in Łukasz Twarkowski's production "Rothko". Bartkevics also takes part in Twarkowski's "Oracle", whose world premiere took place at the Ruhrtriennale. He has received several "Spēlmaņu nakts" awards, the Žanis Katlaps and Harijs Liepiņš awards, and in 2020 he was given the Order of the Three Stars.