Comedy «Snow Games» to premiere in Estonia in November
The premiere of «Snow Games», a play by British playwright Peter Quilter, will take place in Tallinn on 13 November in Russian. Director Eduard Toman is staging it, with Alexander Kuchmezov and Natalia Murina in the lead roles.
A new romantic comedy, «Snow Games» (in Russian, «Снежные забавы»), based on a play by British playwright Peter Quilter, is being prepared in Estonia for Russian-language audiences. It is staged by director Eduard Toman. The Tallinn premiere is set for 13 November at the Mere culture centre, and in early December the production will also be shown in Kohtla-Järve and Narva. Rehearsals are under way at the Pirita leisure centre.
What the play is about
The plot centres on two characters cut off from the world by a snowstorm and locked in one house. Their enforced proximity turns their lives upside down, but according to Toman, the story is about much more than the weather. He says the author wanted to look at the situation when people are shut indoors and told they cannot go out. Toman recalls that during such a time people opened up to one another and to themselves in unexpected ways: some families fell apart, some people took to drink, others began a new life. The author explored this state by placing the characters in a «snow lockdown».
Roles and two casts
Alexander Kuchmezov is rehearsing the main male role, a reserved British gentleman who has deliberately withdrawn from the outside world and values his peace. Natalia Murina plays the main female role; her character is bright, open and spontaneous, and bursts into another person's life.
Because Kuchmezov is busy with other projects, the director himself will take the stage in several performances. Toman has not performed in front of an audience since 2019, but will appear in the first three shows, including the Tallinn premiere. He hopes the two-cast tradition will become a creative contest. Murina describes the change of partners as an interesting creative task: the text stays the same, but the temperament and rhythm of each duo sound different.
The team promises a light and heartfelt comedy. Kuchmezov says the work made him think about love in a new way. In Kohtla-Järve and Narva, Kuchmezov will play the lead role.
