A family portrait from 1856.

Per Olov Enquist’s play Rain Snakes takes us to an evening in 1856, when the director of Danish National Theatre, Johan Ludvig Heiberg, and his wife Johanne Luise Heiberg, star actress of the same theatre, receive an unexpected visitor – an eccentric and deeply depressed young man who is known for his amazing fairy tales, but who wishes to become a serious playwright and desperately aspires to be accepted among the Danish cultural élite. His name is Hans Christian Andersen. Mister Heiberg asks his wife to listen to what their guest has to say, try to comfort him a little and then send him away as soon as possible. However, their brief encounter turns into a long conversation lasting to the early hours of the night and revealing dirty footprints of the past under more than one lacquered surface.

Awards:
2020 Hele Kõrve – Tallinn City Theatre’s colleague award for best actress