Elina Masing stages Replica at Kanuti Guild Hall

Elina Masing and graduating performing arts students from the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy will premiere Replica at Kanuti Gildi Saal, a theatre venue, on November 4, ERR reported. Bitterness is the production’s central theme.

“I wanted to explore a real issue I see around me. Bitterness is particularly relevant among young people: at some point, a certain optimism is replaced by a loss of confidence and a sense of being stuck,” Masing said.

The performers are actors, choreographers and directors from the academy’s graduating class. Masing said the group is exploring whether bitterness is something people can recognise in themselves or something others see from the outside. Because each performer understands it differently, she said, the production spans a wide range of feelings between pain and beauty.

Masing’s debut production, Fairy Tale Arch, premiered at the same venue in 2021. Kanuti Gildi Saal artistic director Eneli Järs said it had been exciting to follow Masing’s creative development and the emergence of new practices. Järs added that Masing’s alter ego, Valge Tüdruk, had become established in the music scene in recent years, and that audiences would be interested to see how those practices come together in the production.

Further performances are scheduled for November 6 and 7, followed by shows on November 21 and 22 at Tartu Uus Teater. Masing is also releasing new music as Valge Tüdruk. Her single Noored, made with Raul Ojamaa, has been released.