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GARGANTUA

costume design for Sveta Grigorjeva's perfomance

VAT Theatre

2025

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

Cast: Sveta Grigorjeva, Tanel Saar, Hanna Maria Saar, Johhan Rosenberg, Arolin Raudva, Sirelyn Rääk

Photos: Anastasia Suvi

More information about the performance: https://vatteater.ee/en/lavastused/gargantua/

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