Draama festival pairs Ukrainian testimony with theatrical experiments

ERR published a diary by Tartu University theatre studies students reflecting on the Draama festival, including Merle Karusoo’s production “Ma ei jätnud Ukrainat” and Mart Kangro’s solo performance “Meedium”.

The students began the festival’s second day by hosting a discussion with young critics through the Theatre Studies Students’ Lodge. Ilo Tuule Rajand, Johanna Rannik and Emel-Elizabeth Tuulik encouraged critics to experiment with new forms and express themselves more boldly.

The discussion focused on the importance of being direct without becoming unpleasant, which the students said gives texts more energy and makes them more engaging for both writers and readers. They also noted that Estonia lacks public criticism-related workshops and safe spaces for experimentation.

Later, the students interviewed people in central Tartu as part of International Actors’ Day, testing their knowledge of actors performing at the festival.

They described R.A.A.A.M.’s “Ma ei jätnud Ukrainat” as immediate and deeply affecting. The production did not minimise the horrors of Ukraine’s recent history and combined factual information with the personal experiences of veterans. The Ukrainians who spoke on stage each shared their own story.

The students said the performance created a difficult choice between maintaining eye contact with the speaker and reading the translation on screen. At the end, a moment of silence filled with respect and compassion in the audience turned into loud applause.

After the performance, the students encountered a donation box and donation link in the queue leading from the ERM theatre hall. They said the discussion that followed attracted an unusually large audience. Alongside director Merle Karusoo, the Ukrainians themselves also took part.

The evening ended with “Meedium”, in which Kangro placed himself between the artificial and the real, and between theatre and life. The students said his humorous and poetic wordplay reached its full potential in speech.

A television on wheels served as his recurring dance partner, spending much of the performance browsing social media independently. The students saw the production both as the rambling of a white middle-aged man and as a multifaceted mirror of society. They concluded that Kangro offers a safe starting point for discovering the performing arts and described him as a national treasure.