Kruusvall’s final play turns mortality into a meditation on love

Jaan Kruusvall’s final play, The Life of the Desert Fox, offers a meditation on love and mortality that is especially fitting for All Souls’ Day, ERR theatre commentator Pille-Riin Purje writes.

The play was written about 20 years ago and had not previously been staged in Estonian. Its first reading took place at the Estonian Drama Theatre in 2008, directed by Margus Kasterpalu, with Lembit Ulfsak reading the role of the General.

In the current production at Südalinna Theatre, an Estonian theatre, Elmo Nüganen plays the General in its small auditorium. Purje praises his portrayal of the character’s contrasts, from cold authority to warm, childlike qualities, as well as his blend of humour and heartache.

She also highlights Nüganen’s interactions with his fellow actors, particularly Jelena Tarassenko as the General’s wife and Dmitri Kosjakov as his friend. The production’s ensemble work, she writes, is carefully balanced.

Kruusvall’s text is minimalist, and Purje senses a kinship with his play Echoes of the Plains. Director Johan Elm adds a dreamlike layer and a circular structure that, she says, deepen the play’s themes. The atmosphere is shaped by designer Eugen Tamberg, lighting designer Anton Andrejuk and composer Kirill Havanski.

“This is not a story about death, but about love,” Purje writes. The play treats awareness of mortality as a dignified way to focus on what matters in life. Nüganen’s performance also brings to mind Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, including its idea that what matters most cannot be seen.