About the theatre
Helsinki City Theatre is Finland’s largest and most versatile professional theatre, which wants to offer the audience unforgettable experiences and meaningful stories on all five stages.
The City Theatre’s wide range of repertoire includes domestic and foreign spoken word plays, comedies, musical theatre, productions by its own dance group Helsinki Dance Company and the Contemporary Performance Stage, children’s performances and Swedish-language performances on the bilingual Lilla Teatern stage.
In the repertoire, there are more than 30 different productions per year, there are more than 20 premieres and more than 800 performances. The theatre is visited by about 300,000 spectators every year.
In addition, approximately 12,000 theatre lovers participate in various audience outreach events, such as workshops, open rehearsals, house tours, performances and theatre projects.
The building employs about 240 theatre professionals with monthly salaries, from actors to carpenters and from ticket sellers to costume designers, and there are also about 100 temporary staff. The share of artistic staff is about 42%, technical staff about 43% and administrative staff about 15%.
The company’s turnover is approximately EUR 10 million, and the annual budget is approximately EUR 29 million, which includes, in addition to the operating grant, renovation and rental grants. The theatre’s own funding share is about 40 per cent.
The Helsinki City Theatre is maintained by the Helsinki Theatre Foundation (1965-), whose Board of Directors is appointed by the Helsinki City Board’s Group Division. The current board is chaired by Veronika Honkasalo (Left Alliance) and vice chaired by Minna Lindgren (Greens). The other members are Maaret Castrén (National Coalition Party), Erkki Tuomioja (Social Democratic Party), Sampo Laurikainen (Left Alliance), Lukas Korpelainen (Greens) and office-holder member Katri Vänttinen (Director of Library Services in Helsinki).
The theatre director is Kari Arffman, the production director is Antti Rehtijärvi, the financial and administrative director is Viena Loire and the marketing and communications director is Vilma Karvonen.
Own dance company Helsinki Dance Company
Helsinki City Theatre’s dance company, Helsinki Dance Company, is the only dance company in Finland operating in connection with a permanent professional theatre.
Founded in 1973, the group has performed on all the stages of the City Theatre and toured in Finland and abroad. The dancers have also participated in musicals and spoken word plays produced by the Helsinki City Theatre as dancers, singers, actors and choreographers. They have distinguished themselves as versatile stage personalities, whose creative energy has been utilised in their work by many top choreographers and directors in Finland and abroad.
The artistic directors of the group have been Jorma Uotinen (1987-90), Carolyn Carlson (1991-92), Marjo Kuusela (1992-96), Kenneth Kvarnström (1996-99), Ari Tenhula (2000-02) and Nigel Charnock (2003-05), Ville Sormunen (2006-09), Kenneth Kvarnström (2010-13), Jyrki Karttunen (2013-17), Antti Lahti (2020-2024) and Valtteri Raekallio (from 1.8.2024).
History
Helsinki City Theatre has two predecessors whose history is colourful and a significant part of Finnish theatre history. The Helsinki Workers’ Theatre, founded in 1902, and the Helsinki People’s Theatre, founded in 1933, merged to form the Helsinki People’s Theatre-Workers’ Theatre in 1948. The most important venues were the Koitto Stage, the Vallila Stage and the Old Student House. The People’s Theatre-Workers’ Theatre became the Helsinki City Theatre in 1965, when the Helsinki Theatre Foundation was established and the decision was made to build a theatre building.
The winner of the design competition for the theatre building was the young architect Timo Penttilä, who later became internationally acclaimed. The developer was the City of Helsinki, and the building was handed over to the Theatre Foundation in September 1967.
The building was expanded, and the Elsa annex was completed in the autumn of 1989, and it was designed by Architects Ltd Timo Penttilä-Kari Lind-Sakari Tilanterä.
During the renovation of the theatre building in 2015-2017, the building technology of the theatre building was updated and the staff and audience facilities were restored with respect for the spirit of the protected building. The developer of the renovation was the City of Helsinki’s Real Estate Department’s Premises Centre and the building contractor was SRV. The architectural design was carried out by LPR Architects Ltd in cooperation with the Helsinki City Museum.
In the 2000s, the theatre has also expanded its operations to new stages: through mergers, the stage of Studio Pasila in the former premises of Teatteri Pieni Suomi (2001) and the Swedish-language stage of Lilla Teatern (2005). Since 2010, HKT’s performances have also been seen on the Arena stage on Hämeentie.
HKT Managers
Sakari Puurunen 1965-70
Timo Tiusanen and Eugen Terttula 1970-74
Paavo Liski and Jouko Turkka 1975-82
Ralf Långbacka 1983-87
Aulis Salovaara (CEO) 1974-75, 1982-83, 1987-91
Jotaarkka Pennanen (large stage), Kalle and Ritva Holmberg (small stage), Jorma Uotinen (dance group) 1987-90
Raija-Sinikka Rantala 1991-31.7.1997
Risto Ruohonen 1.8.-31.12.1997
Asko Sarkola 1998-2016
Kari Arffman 2016-
Number of seats per stage (incl. wheelchair spaces):
- Main Stage 923
- Small Stage 318
- Lilla Teatern 250
- Arena Stage 500
- Studio Pasila 328
- Foyers 50-100
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