Tallinn Treff | NUKU

Tallinn Treff

May 25-28, 2023

The International Visual Theatre Festival Tallinn Treff has taken place since 2007. The festival, having evolved into a meeting place for contemporary puppet, object, material, physical, and multimedia theatre, seeks an inspiring dialogue between content and form, traditions and innovation.

This year’s festival is the thirteenth in a row. The programme has been set up in such a way that it can be divided or combined into various sub-programmes: for children, youth, and adults, as well as for visitors interested in specific forms of visual theatre. The audience will be presented 17 productions, of which 4 are from Estonia and 13 from elsewhere (Germany, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel, England, and Slovenia). There are 7 productions for children and 10 for youth and adults.

It is important for us to include in the festival programme both those performers who are considered the cream of the crop in their field and unique newcomers with their boundary-pushing productions. As the crème de la crème of this year’s festival, we could point out the puppet and physical theatre production Bruce Marie (the Netherlands) by the globally renowned director Duda Paiva and the puppet and object theatre production Chayka (The Seagull) (director Natacha Belova, Belgium). In the programme directed to children, the Danish mime and multimedia production Little Miracles of Life (directed by Frede Gulbrandsen) deserve special attention.

The international festival of the Estonian Theatre for Young Audiences has a long history and has gradually become a significant event in the festival calendar of visual theatres. Next to its content-rich programme, being an initiator and developer of international educational cooperation constitutes an important part of the identity of Tallinn Treff.

In the wake of previous festivals, several ideas have already been born regarding cooperation between theatres – both for creating productions and offering training courses to staff members. The seminars that have taken place at the festival as well as the subsequent meetings have also prepared the ground for promoting the topic of modern puppetry education in our whole region.

Looking forward to meeting you soon at the theatre,

Leino Rei
manager of the festival
leino.rei [at] eestinoorsooteater.ee