In the beautiful city of Tallinn stands the Russian Theatre. Originally built as a cinema in the 1920s, the building represents the Art Deco movement of the time, jazz and modern life, taking the world by storm. The independence of Estonia is also represented through the Russian Theatre as it is deeply intertwined with the history of Estonia.
Theatre was introduced into Estonia in the 13th century under the control of Germany. The tradition of theatre continued under all the other controls of Estonia. Eventually in 1906, theatre was professionalised and therefore the theatre in Tallinn became a professional building. 1917 saw the collapse of the Russian tsarist empire and closely followed the independence of Estonia in 1918. This change to independence was huge and greatly impacted theatre as it was now free of restrictions previously imposed by the oppressive autocracy of the Russian tsars. The theatre now represented the democracy of the independent nation. However, while the theatre was bringing in huge audiences acting as a celebration of independence, the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union post war changed this matter drastically. Through the use of theatre and the arts by intellectuals, the strong tyrannical control of the Soviet Union soon exiled these intellectuals and restored the censorship of theatre, almost destroying theatre in Estonia. Following the death of Soviet leader Stalin in 1953, the theatre began to recover slowly, but surely. Slight changes in censorship gave the theatre small freedoms, and by the 1960s theatre was gaining its power it had before Soviet control. This then led up to the eventual fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Estonia once again gained its independence and theatre was once again used to celebrate this independence through the arts.
Today the iMEP, celebrating a strong 30 years of the process at the 59th international meeting, was announced open by session president Emma Kruusmae at the famous Russian Theatre in Tallinn. The session was then followed with a speech from an honourable guest, the Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas, as she spoke about the importance of young minds in politics being the groundwork for achieving successful policies, referring to the importance of the iMEP sessions in getting young adults involved in politics. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna made a speech after this following the same concept of importance of young people in politics, and made reference to the significant and important history of Estonia while he stood in the historical theatre. He said “The light is coming. This is democracy”. To finish up the honorary guest speakers, a member of the European Parliament Marina Kaljurand made an impactful speech, inspiring all the delegations to go and make an impact in politics and make an impact through the iMEP process over the next week.
After the introductory speeches, the floor was handed over to the representing delegates from each delegation to make their opening speeches. The speeches thanked the host country of Estonia, for their kind and welcoming hospitality, and gave a brief overview of the delegations’ countries. Poland referenced the common stereotypes using humour in the beginning of their speech, when the speaker sarcastically said “in my veins runs pure vodka”. Lithuania continued with this humorous style of speech when the speaker claimed Lithuania is the ‘g-spot’ of Europe. Montenegro was welcomed to the iMEP for the first time this year and in their speech they spoke about the incredible opportunity iMEP gives young political minds and the importance of opening this up to their country.
The marking of such an important time in the iMEP history in the historic Russian Theatre presents the strength of iMEP and the hope for this opportunity to continue for many years to come. The 59th iMEP session is officially open!
Author: Ruby Longley