Authors

Eva-Liisa Linder¹;  ¹ Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Estonia

Discussion

The darker the night, the brighter the stars – this principle characterised queer theatre’s survival in Soviet Estonia, a theatrical landscape long believed silenced by totalitarianism. Whilst the democratic Estonian Republic (1918–1940) celebrated liberal theatre through popular Oscar Wilde productions and cross-dressing comedies, the subsequent half-century of Soviet occupation (1940–1941, 1944–1991) brought legalised homophobia and strict censorship that denied access to much Western dramaturgy. Yet my research uncovers continuity: totalitarianism did not completely erase gender and sexuality themes from Estonian stages. Theatre-makers deployed counterstrategies, discussing dissident themes in Aesopian language through framing, hints, and allusions, creating a ‘dotted line’ of queer continuity.

Drawing upon theatrical public sphere theory, Michael Warner’s counterpublics, and theorisations of Soviet semi-public spheres, I argue that interwar proto-queer theatre migrated into Soviet-era secret forums where liberal audiences could maintain alternative discourse. Estonia’s geopolitical position as the ‘Soviet West’ facilitated this underground resilience.

When state venues closed to queer themes under Soviet rule, dissidence found expression in peripheral spaces: amateur and studio theatres, radio, and television. During the Khrushchev Thaw, 1958 proved an annus mirabilis: coded homosexual content appeared in productions of Eduardo de Filippo, Arthur Miller, and Federico García Lorca – reaching both state and peripheral venues. These playwrights, alongside Tennessee Williams, maintained stage presence throughout the 1960s.

The next phase coincided with Estonia’s theatre renewal at the turn of the 1960s–1970s, bringing closeted queer characters into mainstream venues through Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy, and Brandon Thomas’s revised Charley’s Aunt, collectively drawing over 100,000 spectators (nearly 10% of Estonia’s population). This coded visibility persisted until 1988, when censorship’s end triggered a sharp rise in explicitly queer productions, taking the theme into the broader public sphere.

These findings illuminate post-Soviet paradoxes: when queer theatre emerged publicly post-1988 (eventually totalling over 100 productions), half the reviews expressed surprise or incomprehension. Whilst dissident directors had prepared for ideological freedom and enabled dozens of productions in quick succession, much of the broader public, shaped by Soviet ideology, deemed queer themes private. Yet this sudden visibility propagated liberal values essential for democratic transformation: pluralism, equality, and tolerance.