This play is based on situations from the course of Jaan Kross\u2019s life at the time when he was living in exile in Krasnoyarsk krai after his release from prison camps, and thereafter back in the Estonian SSR. It was in Siberia that Kross started systematically working on his writing, which was fostered by his friendly cohabitation with the communist Alma Vaarman. Upon his return to Tallinn, he tried to earn a living by his writing, but initially without success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An imaginary story connects and transfigures motifs from his life story that are sprinkled into the play. Its title derives from Andrei\u2019s song in Yury Milyutin\u2019s operetta Unsettled Happiness (\u2018Great Siberia, vast dark primeval forest\u2026\u2019), which became famous in its day as performed by Georg Ots. Much of the play\u2019s factual background has been expanded upon by the play\u2019s author in the Estonian academic historical journal Tuna [The Past] in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The play is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jaan Kross, the most internationally well-known Estonian writer. It is part of the same series of Undusk\u2019s previous plays Boulgakoff (staged in 2008 at the Estonian Drama Theatre) and Quevedo (staged in 2010 at the Vanemuine Theatre), where the main character is a writer who acutely goes through the struggle between spirit and power in his own person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","lavastus_tag":[511],"venue":[396],"class_list":["post-11037","lavastus","type-lavastus","status-publish","hentry","lavastus_tag-last-performances","venue-large-hall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n