Estonian Contemporary Performing Arts Showcase presents courage, sharpness, and imagination

From today until September 4, the Estonian Theatre Agency is once again organizing the Estonian Contemporary Performing Arts Showcase, which will bring more than 40 foreign festival and theatre directors, curators, directors, and critics to Estonia. Over the course of four days, international guests will attend eight performances in Tallinn and Tartu, which showcase the latest trends in the local performing arts scene.

The main goal of the Estonian Contemporary Performing Arts Showcase, which has been held since 2013, is to strengthen relations between Estonian and foreign theatre makers and increase the chances of valuable productions reaching audiences beyond Estonia. This year, the festival will welcome guests from the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Slovenia, Germany, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Slovakia, Austria, and Switzerland. In addition to seeing the productions, guests will have the opportunity to find contacts, partners, and artists to participate in their own festivals and projects and to invite to their theatres.

The 2025 showcase festival program includes the Estonian Drama Theatre’s large-scale productions “Business as Usual” (directed by Hendrik Toompere Jr.) and “Self-Help Book” (directed by Tiit Ojasoo), Netti Nüganen’s “Ash, horizon, riding a house” (co-production by Kanuti Gildi SAAL and Tanzquartier Wien), Karl Saks’ “Schema” (Kanuti Gildi SAAL and elektron.art), Üüve-Lydia Toompere’s “Flex” from Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava, “Every Day is Like Sunday” by Von Krahl Theatre’s new troupe, Mart Kangro’s “Pantheon” (Von Krahl Theatre and Kanuti Gildi SAAL) and Elle Viies’ “Enigma”, which premiered recently in collaboration between elektron.art and Von Krahl Theatre. The performances will be followed by informal meetings between foreign guests and Estonian theatre makers.

“We recently stated that while in Western Europe there is increasing talk of art falling into the swamp of political correctness and fear, the performing arts in Estonia are still different – here, courage, sharpness, and imagination continue to thrive. This is also proven by the program of the showcase, which includes productions of such different scales and does not distinguish between those made in the periphery and those made in the centre. All festival productions are united by their uncompromising quality and the constant will and ability of their creators to go beyond the usual, the middle ground, and the expected. The diversity of our theatre scene always makes a deep impression on foreign curators,” comments Liisi Aibel, festival curator and foreign relations coordinator at the Estonian Theatre Agency.

The Estonian Contemporary Performing Arts Showcase is organized by the Estonian Theatre Agency, and the Tartu program is created in collaboration with the Estonian Theatre Festival Draama. The festival is supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.

More information can be found on the Estonian Theatre Agency website.

Photo from the production “Every Day is Like Sunday” by Von Krahl Theatre. Photo by Sille Riin Rand