Productions

Cast: Aleksander Eelmaa, Andres Raag, Andero Ermel, Tõnn Lamp, Helene Vannari, Anu Lamp, Epp Eespäev, Piret Kalda, Külli Teetamm, Andrus Vaarik (guest), Peeter Jakobi (guest)

Jean-Luc Lagarce (1957-1995), the French actor, director and (primarily) a playwright, determines the location of his play We, the Heroes (1994), as follows: „The plot unravels in a theatre, in a former theatre, offstage or in a place that fulfils the function of theatre in that town, in a dance hall, the Big Pub, the Travellers’ Cafe, in a storeroom, in a courtyard or in a corner of a courtyard. The plot unravels in the middle of Europe.” The motto is the first sentence of Franz Kafka’s Diary of 1910: „The audience freezes when the train passes.” The play with few marginalia (Lagarce avoided detailed explanations in order to not „cement the idea”) starts with laconic: „They come from stage.” This is a play about theatre and making theatre. The audience does not interfere, everything takes place between the actors. Lagarce wrote the play for his theatre troupe La Roulotte (carriage of gypsies, itinerant actors), which he had established together with his friends when he was twenty in Besançon. He was connected with it all his life, living alternatively in Paris and in Besançon. Borrowing the motto from Kafka gives a hint for understanding the text and interpreting the somewhat weird names. It is a recommendation to read not only the Diary but also Kafka’s short stories. The play could be seen as a development of Kafka’s fine observation of life. As a wonderful dramatisation that creates an independent world.