New Plays from Finland

Kati Kaartinen (born 1972) is a playwright, screenwriter, and dramaturg based in Helsinki. Kaartinen graduated from the Helsinki Theatre Academy in 2002, majoring in directing and dramaturgy. Her plays deal with melancholic topics such as suicide, mental health, and lack of communication through a hopeful, life-radiating and warm approach. Her central topics can be divided into three categories which, according to her, will always remain as a permanent in our lives: death, birth, and love. Growing up in the working class, her characters often reflect this reality as well.  

 

In 2004 she received the Venla Award for best dramatic script for the television series Arvon Veli (rough translation: Dear Brother), and the Lea Award for best dramatic text of the year from the Finnish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild in 2009 for her play, Aina. Her most recent play from 2020, Poikakoodi (rough translation: Boy code), deals with the realities of growing up and finding one’s identity during the digital age and its impacts on the parent-child dynamic.

 

In addition to working in theatre, she has also worked as a teacher and done freelance work in television and radio.