New Theatre Helsinki Festival 2023: Who belongs to Finland

Festivaaliohjelma / Festival program

OPENING GALA: THE CITIZEN OF HELSINKI

Saturday February 18 at 19.30 – Main stage

At the festival gala The Citizen of Helsinki we celebrate a stunning cultural buffet of dances, poetry, theatre, stand-up and music.  

Program: 

Cuerpalatina – a nomadic dance installation 

Comedian Mebe – Finland’s funniest Kurdish comedian 

Chindian Queen – a decolonial poet, writer and artist 

Godwin Otieno Musuma: Impressions – a dance solo that comes to life in a playful way 

Sneak Peek into the Theatre of the Future – a journey to discover what the Youth find important to share 

Afrojazz Quintet feat Charlotta Kerbs & Ismaila Sané – a Finnish-African band 

——————–

Suitable for: All ages
Language: Multilingual

Workshop: Multilingualism

20-24.2.2023, from 10 to 16 everyday
Post Theatre Collective – Katajanokankatu 3

The Potential of Multilingualism within the Performing Arts

This workshop is part of the collaboration project The Potential of Multilingualism within the Performing Arts, led by Vanja Hamidi Isacson as playwright, and David Kozma as director, hosted by Post Theatre Collective. 

We are looking for multilingual actors to take part in the full  workshop in February 2023. Based on the outcome of this workshop, a possible performance could be developed with the participants.

Suitable for: Multilingual actors
Language: Multilingual
Free upon registration

DOUBLE BILL:
Patriotic Body: Training
2nd Skins 

Tuesday February 21 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage
Suitable for:  Ages 13 and up
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

Patriotic Body: Training 

In this dance solo, the performer research patriotism through the own body. The performer asks how one can address the effects of war on the body, which belongs to the aggressor country. 

Artist: Dash Che 
Language: English, Finnish, Russian 

2nd Skins 

This solo performance presents a sophisticated animal, a human, in bodily dialogue with other skins. The skins are animal and alien; jointly familiar and strange at the same time. 

Dance: Lara Müller 
Language (s): Nonverbal 

S2 – Kanninen, Jimeno, Boitcova   

Thursday February 23 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage
Friday February 24 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage
Saturday February 25 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage

How do we find a home within ourselves and in those surrounding us? Where do we ground ourselves when our physical home is lost? With the S2 performance, we invite the audience to join us in reflecting on the meanings and structures of home, nomading, and existing in different spaces through the lens of multicultural queer experience. S2 is an abbreviation of the words “suomi toisena kielenä”, Finnish as a second language. 

Performers: Anneli Kanninen, Yoandy Jimeno and Vera Boitcova 
Suitable for: Ages 13 and up 
Language: English, Spanish, Russian, Estonian 
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

State of Things 

Tuesday February 28 at 16.00 – Svenska Teatern
Monday March 6 at 16.00 – Svenska Teatern
Tuesday March 7 at 17.00 – Svenska Teatern

This installation is created specially for the festival. It works with serious themes but has a playful interactive form, which makes it interesting for both adults and children. 

Unusual inhabitants will settle in the Svenska Teatern during the New Theatre Helsinki Festival. A kettle and a toaster, a vintage table and a floor lamp, a jacket and a suitcase that have seen it all. The objects are scattered around the theatre, they found cosy corners and regardless of being slightly shy you’ll find them very willing to tell their stories. 

Installation & sight-specific audio performance: Ksenia Peretrukhina, Anastasia Trizna, Toni Randell 
Suitable for: All ages 
Language: Finnish, Swedish and English 
Free upon registration

The audio of the installation is available in Finnish, Swedish, and English. The installation is free of charge but requires registration.  

Lamento Imenso | Helsinki

Tuesday February 28 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage
Wednesday March 1 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage

Lamento Imenso | Helsinki premiers in Finland and is a kick-off for the performances of the year 2023 in places where the artist lives, has lived, would love to live or pretend to live. In August 2022, the performance was shown as a project in progress and a preview at the Festival Citemor, Portugal.

Rogério is a performance artist, theatre director, writer, researcher, teacher, and curator based in Helsinki and Porto.

Text, dramaturgy, and performance: Rogério Nuno Costa
Suitable for: Ages 13 and up
Language: Portuguese, English (also a bit of Spanish, Finnish, French)
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

17 1/2 Wrong Movements

Friday March 3 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage
Saturday March 4 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage

Performers from two well-toured international theatre groups momentarily distanced from the rest of their groups in Helsinki. Right people in the wrong country? Or the opposite? So many brilliant movements and moments taken out of their original context to create a new nonverbal dialogue. Optical chronicles of absurd and very visual theatre. Theatrical upcycling where something totally new is being created in an homage on the heaps of old.

This premier performance is a collaboration between two long-lived theatre companies, Engineering theatre AKHE and KREPSKO theatre group.

Wrong Movements made by, among others: Linnea Happonen, Jan Jakubal, Pavel Semchenko, Riina Tikkanen
Suitable for: All ages
Language: Nonverbal
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

Youth Workshop: Theatre of the Future

Saturday March 4 at 11-13 – Luckan, Yrjönkatu 27

Welcome to join our session of Theatre of the Future workshop. No matter your age, previous experiences, or studies, now you have a chance to play along, improvise and discuss with our group members. No previous experience in theatre or the performing arts is needed. 

Suitable for: All ages
Language: Finnish, English
Price: Free upon registration

Panel Discussion

Saturday March 4 at 15.00 – Luckan, Yrjönkatu 27

Building Bridges: The Diversity and Inclusion in the Performing Arts in Finland and in the Nordics

This panel discussion will gather artists and professionals of the performing arts sector from the Nordic Countries. Together, they will tackle the subjects of diversity and inclusivity in the cultural field of their respective countries. This seminar will also be a time to highlight the importance of new narratives: From the sector’s point of view, how can storytelling shift the perspective on these issues?

Suitable for: All ages
Language: Finnish, Swedish, English
Free upon registration, or online

Pizza Pizza Karagöz

Monday March 6 at 18.00 – NICKEN stage

A traditional Turkish puppet theatre, nearly 700 years old, takes the stage for the first time combining traditional and modern styles. This is a performance about coexistence which uses pizza as the metaphor. 

Performers: Filiz Kurt Aksu, M.Mahir Aksu 
Suitable for: Ages 7 and up  
Language: Turkish 
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

Liebe(s) Europa Dear Europe/a

Tuesday March 7 at 19.00 – NICKEN stage

Liebe(s) Europa is an intimate theatre monologue that unveils the writer´s personal experience living in Finland as a foreigner. The trigger of the monologue goes back to 2020 when borders were closed even within Europe due to the pandemic.

On stage: Daria Trenkwalder 
Suitable for: Ages 13 and up 
Language: German (surtitles in English and Finnish) 
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

Shamans – A Story About Friendship and Magic

Thursday March 9 at 18.00 – NICKEN stage
Friday March 10 at 18.00 – NICKEN stage
Saturday March 11 at 14.00 – NICKEN stage

With the help of the audience, the three main characters will discover the magic of friendship and diversity. This multilingual and interactive play is a homage to shamanism, magic, and friendship.

Performers: Leandro Lefa, Taru Huokkola, Jalal Hajali
Suitable for: Children aged 6 to 10
Language: Finnish, Brazilian Portuguese, Arabic, Kurdish, English
Accessibility: to book wheelchair spaces, please contact [email protected]

Workshop: Homeward

Friday March 10 at 13.00 – Luckan, Yrjönkatu 27

Contemporary Narratives on Finnish Stages

The co-creative workshop “contemporary narratives on Finnish stages” will be facilitated by the theatre director and playwright Ilaria Tucci and the team of Homeward project.

​Homeward is a project that reframes how integration is understood and practiced through the use of co-creative practices. The workshop is free of charge but registration is needed. Come to explore and co-create future narratives with us!

Suitable for: Playwrights, dramaturgs, directors, actors
Language: English
Free upon registration