Theatre
The Werewolf
Libahunt
August Kitzberg · 1911
Opening lines
Mann
Mi-e me, i-e je, meie, ri-si ris, ti-i ti, risti, u-si us, si-o so, usso...
O-u ou, r-r r, our, chri-is chris, ti-an tian, Christian, fa-i fai, th-th th, faith...
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from archive.org
Synopsis
One winter night, the Tammaru house awaits its master, who has gone to watch a woman accused of witchcraft die under the lash in front of the church. He comes home saying that the dead woman's little girl has run away into the snow, and then there is a knock at the door. Tiina grows up there for ten years, with the son of the house and the other foster girl. Margus must take a wife, Mari is the one intended for him, and it is Tiina he loves. Then a rumour runs through the village that the witch's daughter takes another form at night.
Context
Kitzberg had first drawn a tale from the legend, published in 1892, before making it into a tragedy in five acts. The play was premiered on 23 October 1911 in Pärnu, for the inauguration of the Endla theatre, and appeared in book form the following year in Tartu. It received the prize of the Estonian Literary Society. Its heroine, Tiina, is held to be one of the most poetic figures in Estonian literature, and her death has become in the country a symbol of intolerance towards the stranger.
Who it is for
Five acts in Estonian; an extract exists in French, in an anthology and online, and the whole play in English. It is necessary to know that the Tallinn puppet theatre drew a musical comedy from it.
Prizes and reception
His most esteemed play was adapted for the screen by Leida Laius in 1968 and inspired Lydia Auster's ballet Tiina.