Hilda Gleser (8 July 1893,

Viljandi Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...

– 25 August 1932,

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

) was an Estonian actress, director and theatre teacher.

Biography

Hilda Gleser was born on in the city of

in the family of a bricklayer,Glezer Hilda Andresovna // Theatrical Encyclopedia. Volume 1 / Ed. S. S. Mokulsky - Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1961 where she also received her primary and secondary education. From 1910 she took part in amateur performances. She did not receive a professional theater education, but took acting lessons from the Finnish actress Hilma Rantanen, and later improved her skills in Germany and Russia. From 1916 until the end of her life, she was an actress at the

Estonia theatre Estonia Theatre is an historic landmark building in central Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finl ...

. From 1921 to 1924 she worked in parallel at the Morning Theatre, and from 1926 to 1932 at the Workers' Theatre. Among her best roles were: Puck (

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'', 1919), Woman (

Ernst Toller Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, ...

's ''The Man-Mass'', 1922), Electra (

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, libretto, librettist, Poetry, poet, Playwdramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, th ...

's ''Electra'', 1923), Åse (

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

'', 1927), Mrs. Peachum (

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'', 1930), Laura (

Eduard Vilde Eduard Vilde ( – 26 December 1933) was an Estonian writer, a pioneer of critical realism in Estonian literature, and a diplomat. He was the author of classics such as ''The War in Mahtra'' and ''The Milkman from Mäeküla''. He was one of the ...

's ''

Musta mantliga mees ''Musta mantliga mees'' (The Man in the Black Coat) is a novel written by Eduard Vilde in 1883 and published in 1886. It deals with social criticism. The story begins with the sentence: "A heavy hand was placed on his shoulder, a low voice said, ...

'', 1927), Tiina (

August Kitzberg August Kitzberg ( in Laatre Parish, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 10 October 1927 in Tartu) was an Estonian writer. Life Until 1863, August Kitzberg was known as August Kits. He grew up in Niitsaadu farmstead in Penuja village, A ...

's '' Libahunt'', 1928). She performed in the genre of artistic recitation (from 1929 on the radio). As the Theater Encyclopedia notes, "''the images created by Gleser are marked by vivid character, sincerity, heroic direction, and are distinguished by a sharp, distinctive design and extreme expressiveness''". In 1924–1932, she taught stage practice at the School of Theater Arts in Tallinn. In 1924, she debuted as a theater director with the play ''Earth'' by Bryusov at the Morning Theatre. Gleser opposed bourgeois tastes and preferred socially critical dramas. The influence of German expressionism was felt in her plays. She was good at rhythmic crowd scenes. Among Gleser's most notable productions are: '' R.U.R.'' by

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...

(1925, Estonia Theatre), ''Night'' by Martine (1927, Workers' Theatre), ''In the Whirl of Winds'' by August Kitzberg (1927, Workers' Theatre), ''

The Lower Depths ''The Lower Depths'' (, literally: ''At the bottom'') is a play by Russian dramatist Maxim Gorky written in 1902 and produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. It became his first ma ...

'' by

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

(1931, Workers' Theatre), ''

Hoppla, We're Alive! ''Hoppla, We're Alive!'' () is a ''Neue Sachlichkeit'' (or "New Objectivity") play by the German playwright Ernst Toller. Its second production, directed by the seminal epic theatre director Erwin Piscator in 1927, was a milestone in the history of ...

'' by Ernst Toller (1929, Workers' Theatre). Hilda Gleser died

25 August Events Pre-1600 * 766 – Emperor Constantine V humiliates nineteen high-ranking officials, after discovering a plot against him. He executes the leaders, Constantine Podopagouros and his brother Strategios. *1248 – The Dutch city o ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

of a serious illness in the Tallinn Surgical Hospital. Buried in the old cemetery of Viljandi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gleser, Hilda 1893 births 1932 deaths Estonian stage actresses Estonian theatre directors Musical theatre actresses People from Viljandi