On 12th September, the Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences is premiering The Boy and the Butterfly, a wordless visual theatre production for young children. The production is based on a miniature by the classic author Anton Hansen Tammsaare and on the music created by Ardo Ran Varres.
According to director Leino Rei, The Boy and the Butterfly is born as a wordless musical journey into the heart of the world, to the nearest meadow in the familiar forest grove, to a place that contains the whole world – a world to be happy about and to worry about, to love and to cherish.
The production is based on Tammsaare’s miniature The Boy and the Butterfly, which was written down by the author in 1912 in Crimea – in the Estonian resettlers’ village Krasnaya Polyana – and which was published in 1915. A boy comes to a blooming meadow. Marvelling at the sea of flowers, he is distracted by a sparkling butterfly that catches his attention; and the boy rushes to chase it, forgetting about the flowers. When he finally gives up on chasing the butterfly, unable to catch it, the boy notices the trampled meadow, where there are no flowers left.
According to the director, the production makes it possible to talk to children in an age-appropriate language consisting of symbols about topics that could resonate with a human being throughout their life. The visual theatre production The Boy and the Butterfly, which makes use of puppetry and object theatre, is suitable for children who are 3-5 years old, regardless of whether they understand Estonian. The performance lasts for about 25 minutes.
Performers: Laura Nõlvak and Mirko Rajas. Author: Anton Hansen Tammsaare, dramatizer and director: Leino Rei, designer: Erki Kasemets, composer: Ardo Ran Varres, lighting designer: Triin Rahnu. Premiering on 12th September 2021 in the Small Hall.
