Draama 2025

Gargantua

VAT Theatre

Gargantua foto
5th of September 10 pm
Estonian National Museum's theatre hall (B side)
6ht of September 6 pm
Estonian National Museum's theatre hall (B side)

Dance-splatter based on classics

Gargantua” is a body-rock concert. It’s an ode to joy and a pedal to the metal. Is it possible to be happy and joyful in a time of wars-plagues-witchcraft? Gargantua” says – yes-yes-yes-yes! Joy is political, joy is counterattack. Come and be part of the party on stage and the party inside you, the party that is perhaps still waiting to be thrown!!!

Sveta Grigorjeva: „I have always known that if I ever adapted a novel by a dead white man, it would be Francois Rabelais´ „Gargantua“. It would of course be a Grigorjeva-esque neo version, a gushing waterspout of a danceslasher – no heads would roll but it will definitely make ‘em spin. Grigorjeva’s „GARGANTUA” is a carnival of slimy, hairy, erupting flesh, an exploration of transgressive joy and carnal desires. For a body that is not confined by simple skin but an ever-expanding borderless being that encompasses all – human and other.”

In her doctoral thesis, Sveta Grigorjeva presents a grand tale of Gargantua – a simple hedonistic figure to some and the greatest thinker of their time to others. Grigojeva aims to explore Rabelais’ through a physical intensity unlike anything that’s come before.


Author and Director: Sveta Grigorjeva
Dramaturg: Kerli Ever
Stage designer: Mara Kirchberg (Germany)
Costume designer: Lisette Sivard
Lighting designer: Rommi Ruttas
Composer: Martin Kirsiste
On stage: Sveta Grigorjeva, Tanel Saar, Hanna Maria Saar, Johhan Rosenberg, Arolin Raudva, Sirelyn Rääk


The production employs a large amount of fake blood, coarse language, flashing lights and loud sound.

The performance is in one act and lasts 1h and 10 minutes.

The theatre does not recommend the production for under the age of 16.

Premiere: March 18th 2025 in the Great Hall of the Sakala 3 Teatrimaja