Mari-Liis Lill stands by her moralising style

Director, dramaturge and actor Mari-Liis Lill told ERR’s Vikerhommik programme that she does not deny the moralising style of her productions and intends to continue moralising. She said that while she could leave simpler subjects open-ended, she cannot avoid taking a position when there are visible victims.

Last week, Lill and Priit Põldma’s play “One Bright White Dove”, which they wrote and directed, was performed for the final time. The production tells the story of writer Elin Toona’s life.

Toona was in the audience, as she had been at the premiere, and Lill said the experience felt similar to the first performance.

“When the person whose far from simple story you are portraying is sitting in the front row, there is a very, very strong exchange of energy with the audience, where she is also present,” Lill said.

She added that the production had changed after leaving the rehearsal room.

“A performance that does not change after the premiere is worrying. The actor learns to know the role even better, and above all the ensemble work, which is central to theatre and what I look for, grows together better,” Lill said.

“One Bright White Dove” was performed 47 times. Lill said that was a substantial number for a summer production, especially since it is uncommon for a play to run for a third summer.

“It did not reach 100 performances, but in the end it seems to me that the number is not so important. Since it is a play with a fairly high and complex emotional intensity, it is not easy for an actor to perform. It is not a play that could be performed twice a day, so I believe it had a beautiful run,” she said.

Lill described the final performance as a bittersweet evening. She said it had initially been harder to deal with because she was trained as an actor, not a director.

“It is somewhat different when a play in which you participate as an actor closes, compared with a play in which you participate as a director, where you may have invested even more in everything,” Lill said.

She compared the experience to grief, saying that people simply have to learn to cope with it. In her view, 47 performances represented a respectable run, and the loss would have been greater if the production had closed after only six performances.

Lill received her acting diploma 20 years ago. She said the passage of time now seemed much easier to understand, recalling how older colleagues had described time as relative and said that inwardly they still felt 27.

She also spoke about a recent reunion with her classmates, saying it had been enjoyable and that they had not laughed so much in a long time. At the reunion, they discussed how differently people perceived the time since graduating, with some saying it felt like seven years or as if hardly any time had passed.