Kersti Heinloo celebrates 50th birthday with new theatre and film work

Actor and director Kersti Heinloo is turning 50 as she works on several new theatre projects and awaits the premiere of a film, ERR’s Vikerraadio reported. Heinloo said the two people she most wants to impress are her eight-year-old self and the 80-year-old woman she may become.

Heinloo said her birthday was not simply about marking her age. She wanted to celebrate the love of her parents, through which she came into the world.

She said she had no reservations about turning 50 and liked the number as a large, beautiful round figure. A bigger birthday celebration will probably take place in spring, as her birthday falls at the beginning of the theatre season. On her birthday, Kellerteater will stage one of her productions, and Heinloo has invited her loved ones to the performance.

Questions and secrets on stage

In spring, Kellerteater premiered Heinloo’s dramatisation of the Canadian author’s work “The Little Girl Who Loved Matches”. Several people had considered bringing the novel to the stage difficult, but Heinloo said her response was to try.

Lauli Koppelmaa plays the leading role. Heinloo said she enjoyed supporting young actors and giving a young actress a role that was important in her development. Helping shape the role gives her the same satisfaction as performing it herself, she said.

Heinloo is currently rehearsing a new production. Hendrik Toompere is directing Zeller’s “The Forest”, a work that appeals to her because of its questions, secrets and constant search for answers.

She compared the process to detective work, involving a precise search for what is real and what is imagined.

Alongside acting, Heinloo has increasingly directed and written in recent years. She sees these roles as different positions within the same creative process rather than as separate fields.

Her plans also extend beyond theatre. Heinloo has studied film scriptwriting and attended several screenwriting courses during the past season. She said she was currently thinking mainly about comedies.

She will soon appear in Ove Musting’s film “Pig Slaughter”, in which she plays a small role as a member of a folk dance group alongside Ülle Kaljuste. Heinloo said she was looking forward to the film with great anticipation.

Nearly 100 countries visited

Outside the theatre, Heinloo has spent much of the past few years travelling. Together with her partner, Kristjan Suits, she has visited nearly 100 countries, or about half of the countries in the world.

The couple’s recent journeys have included Central Asia. They travelled through the Pamir mountain range and visited Mongolia and Turkmenistan. The weather varied sharply, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius in Turkmenistan, snow and hail in Mongolia, and cool conditions at the heights of the Pamirs.