New Plays from Finland

Taija Helminen is a Finnish playwright and dramaturg who has worked in theatres such as the Finnish National theatre, Lahti City Theatre, and Theatre 2.0. She has also worked on a range of projects involving radio and multimedia. Helminen believes that it is the playwright’s ultimate task to make a positive impact on the world through meaningful plays, hence her leaned interest towards socio-political issues, marginalized groups of people and mental health.

Most recently, in the summer of 2019, Helminen’s four-part series of works (based on four documentary playlets) named Unia Ounasjoen mutkasta (rough translation: Dreams from the curve at Ounasjoki) had its first premiere at the multi-disciplinary art festival, Silence (Hiljaisuus). One of her well-known plays, A Special Day (Merkkipäivä), is a story about family, faith, and resignation which premiered in Lahti City Theatre at the end of 2017. The play takes place in post-war 1960’s - 1970s’s Finland in which there is a strong shared faith amongst the society that together they can build a good life for all. Her play Janne Katajan Riihimäki (rough translation: Janne Kataja’s Riihimäki) premiered around the same time as A Special Day in Riihimäki Theatre.