Sõralinna Theatre head: our theatre is not only Dmitri Petrenko
The director of Estonia's Sõralinna Theatre (formerly the Russian Theatre of Estonia) addresses a 20% drop in last year's audience numbers and defends artistic director Dmitri Petrenko's work. She links the decline to budget and staff cuts as well as some Russian-speaking viewers' disappointment over the theatre's renaming.
Estonia's Theatre Agency reported that Sõralinna Theatre lost more viewers than any other state theatre last year, with attendance falling by 13,500, or 20%. Theatre director Anne-Lii Päiv explains the drop stems mainly from budget cuts affecting both administrative staff and actors. The theatre learned of the budget reduction on June 10, but the whole company's collective leave began just four days later, leaving little time to respond. The theatre staged 320 performances instead of the planned 350, though all announced premieres went ahead. Actors were the last to be let go, working until December 9, after which some signed role-based contracts.
Petrenko's work under scrutiny
In June, Dmitri Petrenko was re-elected artistic director for another five years, though his 2025 productions drew relatively modest audiences — "Fathers and Sons" was seen by 2,282 viewers over seven performances, while "So Much Sun" drew just 370 viewers across two shows before being dropped from the repertoire. Päiv notes that Petrenko's production "On a Leash" was nominated for best youth performance by the Estonian theatre workers' union, and his shows at Riga's Dailes Theatre and Liepāja Theatre in Latvia regularly sell out. In Latvia, Petrenko received an award from the local theatre union for best director with a thoughtful repertoire policy.
Some Russian-speaking audiences have been avoiding the theatre since its renaming from the Russian Theatre of Estonia and the dismissal of well-known actors — a fact Päiv calls painful but true. Several former actors, including Alexander Ivashkevich, continue to perform under role-based contracts.
Ticket revenue last year came in nearly 163,000 euros below expectations. The theatre has cut costs across the board, builds its own sets in-house, and is repaying a 237,000-euro loan taken out three years ago. The popular show "Give to Good Hands" will be dropped from the repertoire due to limits set by the ministry on the number of productions the theatre may run.
