On 2 May 1904, the Riga Latvian Theatre staged the first professional production of Rūdolfs Blaumanis’s drama “Indrāni,” directed by Jēkabs Duburs. Duburs himself played Indrāni Father, while Berta Rūmniece played Indrāni Mother. This premiere began one of the longest stage lives in Latvian theatre — a conflict about generations, property, and moral responsibility that, over a century, was staged in Riga, the provinces, and Latvian exile theatres.

“Indrāni” emerged at a time when Latvian professional theatre was rapidly consolidating its repertoire and public importance. Blaumanis’s farmstead drama turned a family dispute into a broader question: what happens to tradition, labor, and conscience under the pressure of modernization.