„As a child, I remember watching on TV how a noble cowboy would take down dozens of bad—but nameless—cowboys before the final showdown with the evil gang leader. And I thought: how interesting it would be to learn something about those nameless ones! They’re people too. Do they have girlfriends? Parents? Hobbies? What did that man do before he was shot off the roof with a single bullet? Maybe he collected stamps. Maybe he was great at playing the harmonica. Maybe he knew lots of good jokes. Behind every nameless character, you could imagine a whole novel’s worth of adventures, passions, joys, and sorrows—if only someone took the time to invent them.“
That’s exactly how unemployed literary scholar Tarmo thinks when, one night, two supporting characters from Anton Hansen Tammsaare’s famous novel „Tõde ja õigus“ („Truth and Justice“), Kadri and Tiiu, appear in his room to tell their story. They are convinced their lives were just as eventful as those of the main characters. In fact, they believe there’s no such thing as a secondary character—neither in art nor in life. Every fate is extraordinary, full of unique moments and strange turns, and therefore worth telling and remembering.
Andrus Kivirähk wrote the roles of Tiiu and Kadri especially for Harriet Toompere and Liina Tennosaar—as a birthday gift.