June 2020 marked the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the National Theatre. To celebrate this, the Song Festival Museum operating in the birthplace of the Vanemuise Theater will open a new permanent exhibition on the theme of theatre.
The exhibition “Curtain up! Vanemuise Theater 150” invites you to take part in the journey of Estonia’s oldest theatre to the present day and is an attempt to summarize 150 years of the dense and colourful history of Vanemuise Theatre, which includes ups and downs, different social orders, brilliant personalities and the search for one’s place.
The exhibition introduces the theatre both as a traditional cultural medium and as a bearer of innovative trends and highlights the contribution of the Vanemuine Theater and its creators to the cultural scene of Estonia. “The first part of the two-part exhibition tells about the Vanemuise Theater in the 19th and early 20th centuries and how the theatre activities of the Vanemuise Society grew into the first professional theatre,” said museum curator Triinu Suumann.
The second part of the exhibition deals with the period of the 20th and 21st centuries. century. “The central part of the hall is a reduced copy of a real theatre stage, which offers an opportunity to experience theatre making,” said Suumann. “Separately, we also highlight creative activities behind the scenes: through hands-on activities, we show what professions are related to the show, and introduce the terms of the theatre world.”
The curators of the exhibition are Inge Kukk and Triinu Suumann. Designer Silver Vahtre. The exhibition is supported by the Estonian Cultural Foundation and the Vanemuine Theater.