Vanemuine stages tragicomedy about love and drunkenness

Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu is premiering “Joobnud,” a tragicomedy based on a text by Ivan Vyrypaev, ERR reported. The play follows people who laugh, argue and discuss love and God while drunk.

The production takes audiences to various gatherings across the city at night, where philosophical and everyday issues are debated. Alcohol is present at the gatherings, allowing the characters to express thoughts they would otherwise keep to themselves.

“All the characters are connected by a longing for an inexplicable love that they cannot put into words or find in their lives,” actor Priit Strandberg said. “Then, on that evening when they are drunk, they begin to put these things into words and try to find out what love is.”

Director Tanel Jonas said the characters are drunk for several reasons, including the feeling that society is intoxicated while they are sober.

The characters also try to address their longing to fill an emptiness in their hearts and search for a higher power in which to believe.

“I really think that every person longs for something invisible,” Strandberg said. He added that people seek the invisible and all-powerful love in many different ways and in different places.

Vyrypaev fled Russia in 2014, and his texts are banned there. His works have been staged in Estonia more than 10 times, according to ERR.

Strandberg said Vyrypaev was an excellent author who could express what contemporary society is experiencing: people living comfortable lives with plenty of time becoming buried in their work and basic instincts while losing contact with something else that is also important.