Üllar Saaremäe

(stage director)

EDUCATION AND WORK
Üllar Saaremäe graduated from the Tallinn State Conservatory’s Department of Performing Arts in 1988 (15th graduating class). He worked as an actor at Ugala Theatre in Viljandi from 1991 to 1996 and served as the Artistic Director of Rakvere Theatre from 1996 to 2017. Currently, he is the Executive Producer and Artistic Director of the independent theatre company Sagittario.
Saaremäe has directed a wide range of events, the most notable being the official Independence Day reception of the President of the Republic of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, held in Jõhvi in 2009. He is the author and director of the world’s first Punk Song Festival (2008, Rakvere) as well as Estonia’s first National Poetry Festival (2018). As an actor, he has performed in more than seventy stage roles and has appeared in numerous television series and films.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Üllar Saaremäe has received numerous awards and honours, including the Voldemar Panso Young Actor’s Award (1991), Audience Award at the Estonian Drama Festival (1998), Ants Lauter Acting Award (2000), Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2001), Radio Theatre Actor’s Award (2005), Medal of Honour from Lääne-Viru County (2008), the Annual Estonia Theatre Award for Best Actor (2008), Order of Merit of the City of Rakvere (2009), Karl Ader Acting Award (2011), Order of the White Star, 4th Class (2015).

SELECTED PRODUCTIONS
“Don Quixote” by Bulgakov (1995) and “The Conspiracy of the Righteous” (1999, Rakvere Theatre)
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (2007, Estonian Directors’ Theatre Ensemble) and “Much Ado About Nothing” (1997, Rakvere Theatre)
“Midsummer Bonfire” by Rünno Saaremäe (2001, Rakvere Theatre)
“The Passion of St. John” by Liiv/Smuul/Viiding (2005, Rakvere Theatre)
“Shining City” (2008) and “Night Travelers” (2025) by Conor McPherson (both in Rakvere Theatre)
“The Beauty Queen of Leenane” (2011), “A Skull in Connemara” (2014), and “Hangmen” (2017) by Martin McDonagh (all in Rakvere Theatre)
“The Lonesome West” (2024, Kuressaare Theatre)
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” by Tom Stoppard (2014, Ugala Theatre)
“Long Day’s Journey into Night” (2019, Vanemuine Theatre) and “Anna Christie” (1997, Rakvere Theatre) by Eugene O’Neill
“Estonian Funeral” by Andrus Kivirähk (2019, Russian Theatre of Estonia), “Butterfly” (2021, Sagittario Theatre at Loobu Manor), and “Kalevipoeg” (2025, Sagittario Theatre at Laitse Granite Villa Theatre Hill)
“Joan of Arc at the Stake” oratorio by Honegger/Claudel (2007, Birgitta Festival)
“Attila” opera by Verdi (2011, PromFest)