REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN LATVIAN THEATRE ARTS

Representation, especially in culture and art, is important since it reflects on how people see themselves and those around them. Therefore, it is crucial to portray people as real as possible because by doing so it is possible to create a more inclusive and understanding society. In this article author brings focus to representation of disabled people on Latvian theatre stage. The aim of this article is to analyse the events of 2022/2023 season in Latvian theatre and find out how people with disabilities are represented in them as theatre is one of the most common art forms. The empirical part of the work which uses qualitative content analysis on eight theatre plays and performances reveals that in Latvian theatre art, characters with functional disabilities are stereotyped quite intensively, but experiences that are not related to the stereotyping of disability are gained only at the festival “Homo Novus”, where artists with disabilities from other countries are performing.