The Estonian cultural festival showcasing free speech theatre

euronews (in English)

A theatre festival in the Estonian border city of Narva is showcasing the contemporary issue of free speech with participating countries from Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

Transcript

00:00 A theatre festival in the Estonian city of Narva on the Russian border is showcasing

00:05 the issue of free speech with participating countries from Central Asia, Eastern Europe

00:09 and Ukraine. One of the plays is "Choose a Better Version" by Natalka Blok. It's a co-production

00:15 between the organizers Vaba Lava and the Kyiv Theatre of Playwrights and looks at the choices

00:20 people have to make in Ukraine.

00:22 "My main message is the choice we would not have to make if Russia came to kill us. There

00:29 is no good choice in such conditions. What we do is a choice without a choice. Everyone

00:36 chooses it himself."

00:43 The actors and production team are all still living in Ukraine. The Latvian director Volta

00:48 Silins travelled there for rehearsals.

00:55 Being in Narva is a strange experience for Natalka. She hasn't been so close to Russia

01:08 for two years.

01:15 "I don't understand why it's a city, why it's so big, why there are no tanks like

01:22 I've seen in Ukraine."

01:25 "Narva is at the border. The two borders are not new. They show that one border meets

01:32 the other. If there are no us, there is another border. And this border is the Russian Empire."

01:39 Through the international festival, Vaba Lava is offering theatres from regions of authoritarian

01:42 rule a chance to experience freedom of expression, while audiences in the West get a peek into

01:47 the theatre world hidden behind what is an effective iron curtain of more controlled

01:52 regimes. During the five-day festival, underground theatres from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

01:58 will perform in Narva.

02:06 "We all live in the same world. If there are people in this society who are proud and want

02:13 to stand for human rights and domestic freedom, then I think that Narva is the right place

02:18 to perform."

02:20 Natalka Blok says theatre is even more important when Ukrainians are being bombed and shot,

02:25 and they've no other way to process what's happening to them.

02:32 "It's a kind of therapy, a kind of psychotherapy. And for me, too."

02:38 [SWOOSH]

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