“Vale” — Encore

Nick Rongjun Yu’s “VALE” is a psychological thriller. Written by China’s most-performed playwright, Nick Rongjun Yu, “Vale” (“Behind The Lie”) is a sharp, dark and surprising drama built around a tense psychological police interrogation. A doctor is suspected of murdering his wife. In a claustrophobic interrogation room, a police officer persistently tries to get the doctor to confess. The officer’s own demons are at war within him, and it becomes increasingly clear that the two men are more closely connected than they first appear.

Author Nick Rongjun Yu was born in 1970 in Yu Village, Anhui Province. He is China’s most-performed playwright and has written 35 plays in various genres. Yu studied rehabilitation at the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education, but his life changed radically after he saw a production of “Othello” at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. Despite censorship by the Chinese government, Yu skilfully addresses taboo subjects both directly and delicately, experimenting with alternative forms of dialogue, structure and dramatisation. His plays have won numerous awards in China, been translated into several languages and staged at international theatre festivals. He is also the founder and director of the annual Asian Contemporary Theatre Festival and the Shanghai College Theatre Festival.

Director Toomas Täht trained as an actor at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in Austria. He then worked for eight years at various theatres in Germany, both as a member of a resident company and as a guest actor. He has lived and worked as a freelance actor in Estonia for some time, and in recent years has also begun directing in Germany. He has directed four productions in total; his most recent premiered in December last year. “Vale” at Kellerteater is Toomas Täht’s first production in Estonia.

Cast: Andres Roosileht and Rauno Kaibiainen
Author: Nick Rongjun Yu
Translators: Toomas Täht and Kaspar Gräzin
Director: Toomas Täht
Set designer: Karmo Mende
Sound designer: Ove-Kuth Soosaar
Lighting designer: Priidu Adlas