“Lately, any discussion on the arts has been a discussion about money. And there’s no denying that if the government intends to cut the Finnish National Theatre’s budget to the extent it has recently proposed, this will seriously impair the theatre’s ability to operate. However, with all this focus on economic issues, the most important topic of debate is often forgotten: art itself and how crucial it is.” Mika Myllyaho, Director of the FNT, January 2013
CURRENT SEASON
The spring 2013 season is a testimony to the wealth and breadth of dramatic art, encompassing both Finnish and foreign work, including several fresh new interpretations of classic works.
This season will see the opening of British author Nick Dear’s fast-paced adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, American playwright Sarah Ruhl’s new interpretation of the Orpheus myth in her play Eurydice, and Finnish director Mika Leskinen’s dramatization of Dostoevsky’s classic novella Notes from the Underground. These three works are linked by a common theme: free will, its consequences and responsibilities. Each play’s protagonist makes a choice they have to live with. In Frankenstein, the eponymous doctor decides to play God, exploiting science to construct a creature in his own image, only to discover he has created a monster. In Eurydice, the protagonist must make a choice between the land of the living and the world of the dead. And in Underground, Dostoevsky’s hero willingly opts out from the rat race, only to be left pondering in solitude the very nature of free will. Frankenstein opens on the Main Stage in January, directed by Mika Myllyaho, Eurydice on the Small Stage in February, created by American director Yana Ross, and Mika Leskinen’s interpretation of Notes from the Underground opens in the Willensauna Stage, also in February. For the first time, the Finnish National Theatre will also offer surtitled performances in English and Russian for one of its shows, Yana Ross’s creation of Eurydice. For more information and dates of the surtitled performances please click here.
The Finnish National Theatre also continues to profile Finnish work in several new productions. Esa Leskinen and Sami Keski-Vähälä have jointly created a new comedy about Finnish politics, focusing on recent history and examining the relationship between democracy and economic policy. Entitled The Fourth Way, the play will open on the Main Stage in March, directed by Esa Leskinen. On the Willensauna Stage, Miika Nousiainen’s novel The Wood Giant, adapted and directed by Aleksis Meaney, will open in April. Nousiainen is a contemporary author whose novel traces the waning fortunes of a Finnish timber processing plant from the 1970’s to the present day, against the vibrant backdrop of Heavy Metal music. In the Omapohja studio, Jukka Rantanen directs actor Juhani Laitala in a monologue based on Veikko Huovinen’s novel, Konsta Pylkkänen Seeks Shelter. Finally, in a new collaboration with Theatre 2.0 as well as with the railway company VR Group, a new play by Emilia Pöyhönen opens in February in the Vestibule Hall of the Main Railway Station. Entitled Any One of Us, the play examines what it means to have one’s everyday life turn into an unexpected nightmare.
The programme also introduces new puppet theatre this season, with a contemporary play written specifically for puppets, as well as a touring production by the Sytkyt Puppet Theatre Company. Jean Cagnard’s touching tale of a small Tibetan child’s journey into exile, Butterflies Under our Feet, is a family show suitable for children of school age. It is directed by Anne Rautianen and opens in the Omapohja Studio in March. Sytkyt’s Snow!, aimed at two to five year olds, opens in January. It begins in the Lobby of the Main Stage and takes children on an exciting tour of the theatre building. Jukka Rantanen’s enormously popular adaptation of Uncle Fedya, his Cat and his Dog, will also continue for one more season, transferring to the Small Stage.
The theatre also continues to expand its theatre in education and community work. Theatre curator Pirjo Virtanen has initiated and developed many projects and themed events to engage with different sectors of the FNT’s audience base. The programme includes discussion groups, drama courses, literary study, backstage tours and more. Last season launched a new project entitled Living Community in which actress and musician Jemina Sillanpää co-ordinated drama, dance, music and art workshops aimed at participants of all ages, in a specific Helsinki district. In January the fruits of this project can be seen in three performances at the Helsinki Rudolf Steiner School. The outcome proved so rewarding that a similar project will begin this spring. Other outreach activities include a Youth Drama group performance to be staged in March and a showcase of national youth drama performances taking place in May.
Many performances will continue in repertoire, and several shows in the Touring Stage programme continue to travel around the country. These include last season’s new production The Soviet Union, based on elderly people’s memories of living with this powerful neighbour, as well as the interactive children’s show Who’s Your Friend, which takes the fear out of bullying. In the main programme, Juha Jokela’s highly praised tale of the generation gap, Patriarch, Mikko Rimminen’s comic tale of loneliness Red Nose Day, and Michael Baran’s strikingly powerful new play about people who contemplate suicide Intention, all continue this season. Also, Miika Nousiainen’s Going the Distance, adapted and directed by Minna Leino, returns by popular demand for a limited season.
There will be a number of Finnish touring productions on the National Theatre’s stages this spring. These include for example three performances by the Tero Saarinen Company of a double-bill entitled Absent Presence / HUNT on the Main Stage. HUNT is Saarinen’s classic solo choreography, which has been seen over 150 times in 30 countries, and will be performed by the artist himself for the last time in Helsinki. In Absent Presence Saarinen depicts the paradoxical absurdities of modern life in a piece for seven dancers, to music by Jarmo Saari. Another company to visit the Finnish National Theatre this season is the circus act WHS, one of Finland’s leading companies in contemporary circus art, combining dance, visual theatre and object manipulation. In co-production with Les Migrateurs, Théâtre de Hautepierre Strasbourg and the FNT, WHS will present three performances of their show Departure on the Small Stage. Both tours take place in May 2013.
HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE FNT
The Finnish National Theatre, founded in 1872, is the oldest Finnish-language professional theatre in the country. The birth of the Finnish National Theatre was closely linked to the political ideology of the late nineteenth century. Finland was part of the Russian Empire, and its intellectual elite was Swedish speaking. Finnish language and art, including theatre, became the cornerstones of a cultural movement which began in the 1860’s, gradually developed political ambitions by the turn of the century, and eventually led to national independence in 1917.
For the first thirty years of its existence, the theatre functioned primarily as a touring company. The theatre did not acquire a permanent home until 1902, when a purpose-built theatre was erected in the heart of Helsinki, adjacent to the city’s main railway station. The building design was by architect Onni Törnqvist-Tarjanne. This majestic neo-romantic edifice with its façade of Finnish granite and interiors of soapstone, marble and wood, is one of Finland’s most impressive national monuments. The theatre still operates in these premises today, and over the years the building has expanded from its original size to encompass another three permanent stages. In addition to the Main Stage (Suuri näyttämö), the theatre comprises the Small Stage (Pieni näyttämö) built in 1954, the Willensauna Stage built in 1976, and the Omapohja studio built in 1987.
In 2010 the FNT’s governing board appointed the current director Mika Myllyaho, who has expanded the theatre’s activities. He has adopted a policy of associate writers to whom the theatre is committed on a long term basis. Juha Jokela, Heini Junkkaala, Sofi Oksanen, Laura Ruohonen and Paavo Westerberg will all be writing specifically commissioned work for the Finnish National Theatre over the next few years.
The theatre also established a new production unit in 2010, which was given the name of Touring Stage. This unit, which has no fixed stage, aims to take small-scale touring performances to locations throughout the country which have little or no access to theatre, such as schools, day care centres, homes for the elderly, hospitals, welfare reception centres, prisons and so on. The Touring Stage’s programme focuses on topical issues which are developed through community research and interaction, reaching out and giving voice to marginalized sectors of society.
In January 2011 the theatre’s former restaurant reopened as the Club Scene, transformed into a late-evening club-like entertainment spot. The space has been given a new look, refurbished in a piano-bar stroke artist’s living-room style, and it offers a varied programme of music, drama and poetry performances, discussion evenings and artist soirées, put together by producer Hanna Reetta Majanen.
Throughout its history the Finnish National Theatre has also maintained international links in various forms of partnership with foreign theatres and festivals. This continues today as the theatre co-operates with, among others, the Helsinki Festival to bring over cutting-edge examples of world drama. Most recent examples of this include the collaboration with internationally renowned Russian director Andrei Moguchi which brought his Circo Ambulante to the Main Stage last August. Co-operation with the Lithuanian National Theatre also gave Finnish audiences the chance to see Yana Ross’ unorthodox production of Mika Myllyaho’s play Chaos in October. The theatre also participates in text-based cultural exchanges and workshops, and regularly invites guest directors from abroad, to bring new perspectives to Finnish theatre. This season the theatre has invited an international team to work on Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice. The play’s director is Russian-born American Yana Ross. The show’s set and costumes are created by American designer Zane Pihlstrom and its sound by Lithuanian composer Antanas Jasenka. The performance also contains art work by Dutch photographer Edith Gerritsma.
Contact
General contacts
Address
Finnish National Theatre
Läntinen Teatterikuja 1
00100 Helsinki
Finland
Telephone +35810 733 11
Tickets
+358 10 7331 331
www.lippu.fi
email addresses are:
firstname.surname(at)kansallisteatteri.fi
Director of the Finnish National Theatre
Mika Myllyaho
Telephone +35810 733 1201
Director’s Secretary / Club Scene Producer
Hanna Reetta Majanen
Telephone +35810 733 1259 / +358 50 374 4181
Technical Director
Antti Aho
Telephone +35810 733 1264 / +358 50 320 9601
Administrative Director
Päivi Isosaari
Telephone + 35810 733 1203 / + 358 50 381 6436
Dramaturg
Michael Baran
Telephone +35810 733 1261
Dramaturg / International relations
Eva Buchwald
Telephone +35810 733 1314 / +358 50 315 2947
Dramaturg
Minna Leino
+35810 7331 321
Marketing Manager
Auli Turtiainen
Telephone + 35810 733 1220 / +358 50 375 3501
Head of Press
Mia Hyvärinen
Telephone +35810 733 1238 / +358 50 540 5062
Theatre educator
Pirjo Virtanen
Telephone +35810 733 1256 / +358 50 374 2296
Manager of Theatre Restaurant
Thomas Möller
Telephone +35810 733 1283