The Revenge of the Holy River

Thunder rumbles.   
Water whispers.  
The air is heavy with wonders. 

Based on Aino Kallas’s short story of the same name, The Revenge of the Holy River is the first diploma production of the directing and acting students of the 32nd class of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Drama School. The story is based on true events that took place in the 1640s by the Võhandu River. 

Master Adam Dörffer is invited to build a watermill on the Võhandu. The locals, however, believe that the Võhandu River is sacred and that blocking its current and provoking its wrath would bring upon them draught and crop failure. Despite the people’s opposition, construction of the mill begins; and so on the banks of the river, two different truths collide.  

Why do we not tolerate that which we cannot understand? Why do we stubbornly press on, even when we realise we are not right? Can a person standing before eternal mysteries, with no key, admit the weakness of their knowledge?  

“But oh, human spirit, cowering your whole mortal life like a maggot under a log, what do you know? Can you drain the abysses of the seas and rummage through its graves? Can you drill through the Earth’s crust and glance into its depth?”  
– Aino Kallas, Revenge of the Holy River   

A collaborative production of the Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences and the Drama School of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. 

Attention! The production uses health-safe stage smoke and strobe lighting (not suitable for people with epilepsy).

Cast

Mirjam Aavakivi, Erling Eding, Erik Hermaküla, Joonas Koff, Eliis-Maria Koit, Mauri Liiv, Mattias Nurga, Uku Pokk, Alex Paul Pukk, Katarina Sits, Carolyn Veensalu