21.05.2014

TINFO e-News / Summer 2014

NEW PLAYS FROM FINLAND -DATABASE

TINFO GRANT FOR TRANSLATION – HOW TO APPLY

TINFO NEWS - PERFORMANCE DESIGN, E-PUBLICATION

INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVALS IN FINLAND 2014

OPEN CALLS

34th Oulu Theatre Festival for Young Audiences is looking for shows

PUBLICATIONS

NEXT EDITION

ARTIST PROFILE

Metatext at Frankfurt Book Fair

The Reality Research Center is a performing arts collective that endeavors to observe, question and renew the surrounding reality through artistic investigation and performance. In Metatext, the collective’s latest production, participants will be invited to experience alternative realities. Audiences will be able to experience Metatext at the Frankfurt Book Fair October 8 – 12, 2014.

Metatext has been derived from the Metafestival concept, previously organised at the Baltic Circle festival in 2012 and at Auawirleben Festival in 2013.

Created by Finnish performance artist and game designer Pekko Koskinen and artists from the Swiss Tobak Lithium and Schaubüro, Metatext approaches text and the act of reading in a fresh new way.

Pekko Koskinen: “If we accept that social structures are, in fact, artificial constructs, we can begin to create alternatives by asking
the question of what if”

Photo: Pekko Koskinen: Metatext
© Pekko Koskinen, SoSA (Social Space Agency)

Reality – but what if...

Reality presents itself as a fictive construct of mutual collusion within which people live and by which their lives are supported. The Reality Research Center takes fiction and fictionalisation seriously.

“If we accept that social structures are, in fact, artificial constructs, we can begin to create alternatives by asking the question of what if”, Pekko Koskinen explains.

Metatext explores approaches outside of current conventions. It creates alternative
relationships with text, creates new practices of reading and reflects the relationship of books and the Bookfair itself.

The visitors of the Frankfurt Bookfair are offered tools to explore new approaches, and the possibility of becoming a participant in their creation itself.

Dear book fair visitor: Metatext invites you to experience alternative realities through reading

Your role will be to seek alternative ways of approaching a text. You will take on the role of protagonist and be provided with tools to help you find alternative approaches to reading. The objective is to transform yourself into an observer, investigator and explorer of text. To become an active participant.

***

Metatext is part of Reality Research Center's Pekko Koskinen's exploration of
concept technologies which he develops and experiments under RRC's project called Othering.

Production:
Reality Research Center, Tobak Lithium, das schaubüro, Theatre Info Finland (TINFO), Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI)

www.todellisuus.fi/en/toiseuttaminen

FINNLAND Cool

THEATRE NEWS FROM FINLAND

Finland is a Guest of Honour in Frankfurt Book Fair 2014. Finnish theatre, plays, playwrights and artists are also well represented in Germany during the whole year.

Pipsa Lonka wins playwright prize at Heidelberg Stückemarkt

This year’s Heidelberg Stückemarkt international prize has been awarded to Finnish playwright Pipsa Lonka. The Heidelberg jury saw a reading of Lonka’s Lauluja harmaan meren laidalta (These Little Town Blues Are Melting Away). The prize, presented on the final day of the Stückemarkt on May 4th, 2014, is worth EUR 5,000.

This year’s Heidelberger Stückemarkt program also featured read-throughs of two further Finnish plays, Juha Jokela’s Patriarkka (Patriarch) and Emilia Pöyhönen’s kuka tahansa meistä - dokumentti (any one of us - a document), alongside Lonka, under this year’s Gastland Finnland theme. Juha Jokela was presented with the Audience Award, worth EUR 2,500.

This year’s Heidelberg festival was a brilliant showcase for Finnish theater, comprising an additional three guest productions. The festival also saw the publication of the Eisbilder anthology of plays.

The high profile appearances by Finnish theater makers and the publication of the anthology at the event form part of Theatre Info Finland’s (TINFO) German project for 2014.

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

Theater der Zeit – Finnland Spezial

TdZ_Finnland

Cover Photo: "Talvivaara" 2014 by the performance collective "Vaara"
© S.M. Khalid Imram

The German Theatre der Zeit magazine’s Finnland Spezial is a 52-page supplement focusing on Finnish theatre, published in partnership with TINFO. The articles featured in the supplement are available in both German and English.

For a free review copy, please contact: tinfo(a)tinfo.fi

Inhalt / Content

Editorial
Hanna Helavuori: Das nach vorn gelehnte Publikum / An audience leaning forward
Maria Säkö: Theater im Wald / Theatre in the woods
Friederike Felbeck: That's the way, aha-aha, I like it!
Maria Säkö: Konsumier mich nicht / Don't consume me!
Scheitern, bitte! / Fail, please!
Annukka Ruuskanen: Das kalte Denken / A cold way of thinking
Friederike Felbeck: Do what you can!
Anna Teuwen: Finnischer Zeremonienmeister / The Finnish master of ceremonies
Maarit Lukkarinen: Ein Kiosk in Grönland? / A kiosk in Greenland?
Maarit Lukkarinen: Der Wunderbohrer / The opener of old wounds
Die unausweichliche Katastrophe / The inevitable catastrophe
Jonna Sundberg und Jukka-Pekka Pajunen: Jenseits der Tradition / Beyond tradition
Heidi Soidinsalo: Klangkunstler im Dienst des Theaters / Sound artists in the service of theatre
Kati Outinen im Gespräch mit Jonna Leppänen / Kati Outinen talking with Jonna Leppänen
Glossar und Adressen / glossary and addresses

Eisbilder – an anthology

Eisbilder_verkkokauppa
Photo: Reijo Kela: Hiljainen kansa (The silent people) / Suomussalmen kunta

Theater der Zeit and TINFO have joined forces to publish the Eisbilder – Neue Theaterstücke aus Finnland anthology The anthology comprises German translations of five contemporary Finnish plays: Lauluja harmaan meren laidalta (These Little Town Blues Are Melting Away) by Pipsa Lonka, (translator: Katja von der Ropp), Patriarkka (Patriarch) by Juha Jokela (translator: Stefan Moster), Puhdistus (Purge) by Sofi Oksanen (translator: Angela Plöger), Paniikki (Panic) by Mika Myllyaho (translators: Eeva Bergroth and Martina Marti) and Jääkuvia (Frozen images) by Kristian Smeds (translator: Katja von der Ropp). Plays were selected and edited by Nicole Gronemeyer.

To request a copy for review, please contact: tinfo(a)tinfo.fi

Inhalt

7       Vorwort
          Nicole Gronemeyer

          Linnea Stara
11      Die Welt durch die finnische Brille sehen

          Pipsa Lonka
21     These little town blues are melting away
          Lieder vom Ufer des grauen Meeres

         Juha Jokela
77     Der Patriarch

          Sofi Oksanen
151   Fegefeuer

          Mika Myllyaho
209   Panik
          Männer am Rande des Nervenzusammenbruchs

         Kristian Smeds
253 Eisbilder
         Ein theatrales Familienalbum

271 Autorinnen und Autoren

277 Rechtenachweis

Plays from Finland – Latest Translations in German

The latest translations of Finnish plays in German and other languages supported by TINFO Grant.

Bis zum Tod / Until Death by Nya Rampen, Institutet & Markus Öhrn on Stage in Germany

Bis zum Tod / Until Death, a latest performance from the Scandinavian artist collaboration will be shown at the Theater der Welt -festival in Manheim, Germany in June 5-6. With this dark-romantic black metal opera the Swedish director and video artist Markus Öhrn explores the boundaries of interpersonal relationships. Together with the theatre groups Nya Rampen and Institutet, he starkly explores the mechanisms of repression in a middle-class family.

The Finnish theatre company Nya Rampen was founded 1999 in Helsinki. It is lead by its founders Elmer Bäck, Rasmus Slätis and Jakob Öhrman. Nya Rampen is interested in pushing the boundaries of theatre, remaining open-minded towards other art forms and movements. In challenging preconcieved notions of what theatre should be the group strives to find new means of expression and ways to enter the theatre space.

The company is currently based in Berlin , with strong connections to Scandinavia.

www.nyarampen.fi

http://institutet.eu

www.theaterderwelt.de

Sleeping is for the dead: a monologue from Finland to New York

Minna Puolanto's monologue Sleeping is for the dead has been selected for performance at the 2014 United Solo Theatre Festival in New York City. The performance will be on October 24 in Theatre Row, which is located in the world-famous theatre district on 42nd Street.

The show has already been awarded at international festivals in Lithuania and Estonia. It has been performed 40 times in Finland and abroad. It premiered in 2010 at KokoTheatre.

Sleeping is for the dead is a tragicomedy about a mom who never sleeps. Her husband and three little children need her 24/7. "Mommy loves you more than anything."

www.unitedsolo.org

www.minnapuolanto.com

www.tinfo.fi/touring-performances

Touring Performances

Finnish performances available for touring: View the list

www.tinfo.fi/touring-performances

Broken Heart Story in Lithuania directed by Saara Turunen

Saara Turunen’s play Broken Heart Story has premiered at the Lithuanian National Theatre. In total, the play will receive five stage performances in Lithuania between April and June. A creative ensemble made up of local theatre professionals will be directed by the playwright Saara Turunen herself.

The play first premiered in Finland at Helsinki’s Q-teatteri in 2011 and has subsequently been translated into a number of languages, including English, Danish, Estonian, Czech and Greek. Some of the translations have been supported by a grant from TINFO.

Photos and information on Broken Heart Story at the Lithuanian National Theatre:
www.teatras.lt/lt/cia-ir-dabar/naujienos/vaizdo_irasas_is_busimos_premjeros_broken_heart_story/

www.teatras.lt/lt/spektakliai/saara_turunen_broken_heart_story_sudauzytos_sirdies_istorija/

kultura.lrytas.lt/scena/usuotos-moters-istorija-suomes-spektaklyje-pasakos-dvi-aktores.htm#.U1YaGhz99PF

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

Nordic Performing Arts Days 9–21 June 2014, Denmark

Nordic Performing Arts Days is a unique chance to see, experience and learn while meeting new colleagues from all over the world. These days will take the form of a caravan of performing artists who will be travelling through the four largest cities in Denmark, from Aalborg via Aarhus and Odense to Copenhagen. Streets and theatre spaces will be alive with performances, workshops and celebrations, including a visiting program for international presenters and much more. Each city where the caravan stops will offer a new perspective on the performing arts – in Aalborg the focus is on new collective creation processes, in Aarhus on new and emerging platforms, new methods and possibilities and their impact on performing arts, in Odense on performing arts for young audiences and in Copenhagen on dramatic art.

Nordic playwrights are be presented at the festival under the Nordic Dramatrain in Copenhagen. This will be the first stop of the Nordic Dramatrain readings, which will take the participating Nordic texts around the Nordic countries in the course of 2014/15. Finnish text in this event is Pipsa Lonka's These Little Town Blues Are Melting Away.

www.nordicperformingartsdays.dk

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

Sofi Oksanen's When the Doves Disappeared on Stage in Tartu, Estonia

The most legendary theatre in Estonia, Vanemuine, is including Sofi Oksanen’s play When the Doves Disappeared in their repertoire, opening on 28 February 2015 in the Grand Building. The play premiered at the Finnish National Theatre in the autumn of 2013.

”The world depicted in the works of Oksanen is frighteningly topical considering the prevailing situation in Europe this spring,” observes Anu Tonts, the dramaturg at Vanemuine Theatre.

”I would never have believed that the ponderings on conceptual manipulations of my main character, who plays around with the use of the term fascist, would be current in the spring of 2014,” Oksanen adds. ”The main character in the play, Edgar Parts, works as a KGB photographer in the 1960’s, and images have always been one of the most important tools of propaganda. This is why the story needed to be written for the stage. The re-awakening of this old propaganda imagery is what we have been able to follow through the Ukrainian crisis, and the imagery familiar in the play is now used as a tool for warfare.”

The play will be directed by the Vanemuine Drama Director Tiit Palu, with Eugen Tamberg as the Production Designer, and Toomas Lunge will be in charge of the music. The play has been translated into Estonian by Maimu Berg. The three main characters will be played by Sten Kaprov (Edgar), Linda Kolde (Juudit) and Reimo Sagor (Roland). The tickets for the coming season at Vanemuine Theatre will be on sale from 19 May 2014.
[Source: http://oga.otava.fi/]

Read more

Further information:
Milla Palovaara
Otava Group Agency
+358 40 5967973
milla.palovaara(at)otava.fi

www.vanemuine.ee

http://oga.otava.fi

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

What's On Stage Now in Finland

What's On Stage in Finland NOW ... a selection made by TINFO

NEW PLAYS FROM FINLAND -DATABASE

New Plays from Finland database offers a selection of Finnish plays, please take a look!

”I would never have believed that the ponderings on conceptual manipulations of my main character, who plays around with the use of the term fascist, would be current in the spring of 2014.”
Sofi Oksanen on her play When the Doves Dissappeared

www.tinfo.fi/newplays

TINFO GRANT FOR TRANSLATION – HOW TO APPLY

Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) awards grants for translations of Finnish plays. We accept applications continuously. Grant decisions are four to five times a year. We aim to support international productions of Finnish plays.

Who can apply for a TINFO translation grant?

Playwrights, drama agencies, theatres, festivals or translators may apply for a grant. The grant will be paid directly to the translator.

Read more about the criteria and view the application form here.

Recent translations of Finnish plays supported by TINFO Grant.

TINFO NEWS – PERFORMANCE DESIGN, E-PUBLICATION

TINFO News is a magazine on Finnish theatre, drama and artists. The latest issue TINFO News – Performance Design was published in the Spring 2014.

Take a look all the issues here.

INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVALS IN FINLAND 2014

Black and White Theatre Festival 20–24 May 2014, Imatra

The Association of ”The Theatre of Black and White” in Imatra has been organizing The International Black and White Theatre Festival since 2004. Right since that time Black and White Theatre Festival has become well-known event for many people of the world. At the festival we could see the performing of different theatres from 26 countries, so far more than 140 shows and performances.

http://blackandwhitetheatre.net/

Hangö Teaterträff – Hanko Theatre Festival 5–8 June 2014, Hanko

Hanko Theatre Festival is the largest Swedishspeaking theatre festival in Finland. It takes place annually in the beginning of June and collects theatre visitors and performing artists to Hanko to see the best (mobile) performances of the year. Discussions, planning and development of the Finnish-Swedish performing arts are also parts of the agenda.

The theatre festival is open for any theatre enthusiast and is a meeting point for free groups and institutional theatres, for theatre students and established actors, for critics and audience.

Odyssey project

Meeting the Odyssey is a social and artistic collaborative project sailing from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea. Each summer from 2014 to 2016, artists and organizers from different European countries will travel together, giving workshops and performing theatre pieces. The project will combine elements of the Odyssey, contemporary themes relevant to Europe and stories collected through exchanges with the local population. But Meeting the Odyssey is also a journey in itself : bringing people together through long term collaboration, and discovering new artistic landscapes and cultural attitudes to develop synergies at the European level.

Meeting the Odyssey Part One: Memories for Life is part of Hanko Theatre Festival's programme.

http://hangoteatertraff.org/en/
www.meetingtheodyssey.eu/

Tampere Theatre Festival 4–10 August 2014, Tampere

Tampere Theatre Festival is the oldest and the largest professional theatre festival in the Nordic countries, serving as a display window for the finest Finnish and international productions. The festival programme includes 21st century drama, classics, dancetheatre and street theatre. Besides the performances various meetings, seminars and discussions are also organised during the Festival week.

Festival programme is now available online.

www.teatterikesa.fi

Stage Festival 13–24 August 2014, Helsinki

Korjaamo Teatteri’s Stage Festival brings to Helsinki performances from international as well as Finnish theatre groups. Ranging from contemporary texts to updated classics, the programme is a window into new ways of producing and experiencing theatre. The festival is also a global meeting point for audiences and artists alike: plays are performed in their original language and subtitled in Finnish and English.

Taking place at Korjaamo Culture Factory,and accompanying theatre's for the 8th time this August, Stage brings together a variety of performing arts productions from traditional theatre to multimedia performances and contemporary dance. The festival also extends to after performance talks, concerts and panel discussions. Stage is produced in co-operation with Helsinki Festival.

Festival programme: www.korjaamo.fi/en/stage

Helsinki Festival 1–31 August 2014, Helsinki

Helsinki Festival is the largest arts festival in Finland, organised annually in late summer. The festival’s aim is to make art accessible for all. This year's festival programme for theatre and performing arts contains performances e.g. Rosa Liksom and Kristian Smeds, Oblivia and Back to Back Theatre from Australia.

www.helsinginjuhlaviikot.fi

OPEN CALLS

34th Oulu Theatre Festival for Young Audiences is looking for shows

Finland's oldest and still one of the largest theatre festivals in Europe for children and young people is looking for performances into its repertoire for 19.–24.1.2015. During the Festival over a hundred events and performances will be offered to young audiences. The responsible head organizer of the annual event is Oulu City Theatre headed by the Artistic Director Kari-Pekka Toivonen.

In addition to traditional theatre, the array of genres includes all kinds of other performance arts ranging from dance, puppet theatre, musicals and circus. We welcome both traditional stage shows and experimental and interdisciplinary pieces of theatre taking place at more unusual spaces. The performance can be directed at the whole family or at more specific age or target group. We expect the applicants to be interesting, diverse, high-quality and professionally produced.

The chosen performances will be shown 2–4 times during the Festival. The Festival offers all transport, travel and accommodation expenses in addition to a small performance fee, but unfortunately it does not pay wages, per diems or productions costs.

The call for performances will end 23.5.2014. The application should include a full introduction, a cost evaluation for the visit, a dvd or a link for downloading/internet viewing, a full technical rider and stage plan. The application can be emailed to elina.terho(at)ouka.fi or sent to Elina Terho, Oulun kaupunginteatteri, PL 5, 90015 Oulun kaupunki, Finland. We reserve rights to choose performances from outside this call.

http://teatteri.ouka.fi/festival/en/home

PUBLICATIONS

TINFO News is a magazine on Finnish theatre, drama and artists.

View the issues (e-publications):

Also available in TINFO web store:

Eisbilder – Neue Theaterstücke aus Finnland
Theater der Zeit – Finnland Spezial (articles in English)

NEXT EDITION

The next TINFO e-News will come out on 23 September 2014.

We would like to wish everybody a great summer!