Theatre Ģertrūdes ielas teātris in Riga offers to watch online the performance "The Black Sperm" by Vladislav Nastavshev based on stories by Sergey Uhanov. A recording of the performance will be available on the ĢIT website for two weekends in May – on May 8 to 10 and May 22 to 24. Performance is in Latvian with subtitles in Latvian, Russian and English.

It is no coincidence that Vladislav Nastavshev chose to stage "The Black Sperm" – a collection of short stories, written by a Russian writer from his generation, Sergey Uhanov; in his previous productions, the director had already embraced topics favoured by Uhanov. The short stories, whose main characters are extraordinary loners and outcasts, conjure up absurd, multi-layered and provocative scenes, in a manner that resembles Russian surrealist Daniil Kharms. Revealing naivety, tenderness, and sexuality, The Black Sperm speaks directly and even harshly about realities of life that aren’t always proper and politically correct, nevertheless the heroes of these stories don’t hide themselves and are not ashamed. These are stories about relationships, feelings and self-realization of young people growing up.

Vladislav Nastavshev in his performances transforms humour, melancholy, the tiniest details of every day into an existential experience and the ability to see a show as an integrated work of art in which performers, space, design, words, objects, sound, light and all that can break into the universe of the performance from the outside world play an equal role from the very start. By minimal yet effective tools the artist transforms empty stages into imaginary rooms, playfully overcoming any obstacles which would inhibit the process of thought or imagination and spatial perception, activating, along with audial senses, the viewer’s sight, tactility, their bodies and instincts. Nastavshev regularly performs in various theatres in Latvia and Russia, but he has also worked in Estonia and Lithuania. He had been nominated for Latvia's national theatre award (Spēlmaņu nakts) and Golden Mask Award in Russia, but in the season he made "The Black Sperm" he got Latvia's national theatre award as Best director. The actors Reinis Boters, Marija Linarte, Jana Ļisova, Āris Matesovičs and Kārlis Tols who back in 2015, had only recently graduated from Latvian Academy of Culture, now have become one of the brightest young artists who actively work in both non-governmental and state theatres and collaborate with various directors.

The performance and recording were financially supported by State Culture Capital Foundation.