Helsinki City Theatre has a permanent ensemble of around forty actors. The theatre’s dance company, Helsinki Dance Company, consists of seven dancers. Performers generally work split shifts. After morning rehearsals, they take a break before returning in the evening for either a performance or further rehearsals.
“Art comes to life when you give something of yourself”
Helsinki City Theatre is home to dozens of performing artists of different ages. Here, three of them share their personal stories about life as a performer. How did they become artists? What is it like to perform for a living? Can you plan your career far into the future? And how does criticism feel?
Helena Haaranen, actor
Joined Helsinki City Theatre in 1975
I grew into this profession. I started at the Finnish National Opera Ballet School when I was nine. The idea of becoming a performing artist probably first took root in nursery school. I have always been interested in music, dance and drama. That has also been my “problem”: I have never been able to choose just one path and devote myself to it. But here I am – 50 years in the theatre.
When I was eight, I came here alone to see the musical Viulunsoittaja katolla. It was the first musical I had ever seen and also the inaugural production at the brand-new Helsinki City Theatre. At the time, I could never have imagined that I would build my career on that stage, working in dance, drama and musicals.
I auditioned for and joined the City Theatre’s dance company in 1975. I was 15 and had already studied dance for six years, appeared as an extra in operas and ballets at the Finnish National Opera and studied music at the Helsinki Conservatory. I was given a permanent position in the Helsinki City Theatre dance company in 1978. The City Theatre was new and state-of-the-art. Having come from the opera, it felt incredible when people at the theatre immediately came over to shake hands and introduce themselves to a young dancer just starting out.
Performers can never know for certain where their careers will take them.
When I turned 40 in 1999, I was offered the opportunity to continue as an actor. It was a welcome change, as I had also taken on small speaking and singing roles throughout my dance career. Performers can never know for certain where their careers will take them.
The richness of theatre lies in performers of different ages and backgrounds, each responding to things in their own way. Working in a large organisation like this is not something to be taken for granted, and this environment does not suit everyone. Public criticism is also part of being a performer. Constructive criticism is valuable, and feedback from colleagues is worth its weight in gold. Constructive criticism is rare in Finland; perhaps that is a national trait. What is disheartening is knowing you have done good work and not even being mentioned.
I was recently asked about my career dreams. I do not want to share them publicly, but I certainly have them! There is nothing mysterious about making theatre. It is about throwing yourself into the work, repeating and refining it, time and again. Life is a mystery, and theatre is life.
Tuukka Leppänen, actor
I came to the profession through musicals. From primary school onwards, I attended music classes in Lahti, played the cello and sang a great deal. After upper secondary school, I spent a couple of years studying musical theatre in the Department of Music at Lahti University of Applied Sciences. Then, in 2003, I applied to Teak before completing my studies and was accepted.
The following year, I appeared in Saturday Night Fever, directed by Marco Bjuström. That led first to an invitation to audition and, after a few twists and turns, to a job here. My teachers at Teak allowed me to take it on, provided I did not work exclusively in musicals. I spent my first few years as a freelancer, was engaged by the theatre in 2008 and given a permanent position in 2015.
As an actor, I am cautious at first. I need a clear framework within which to work before the character’s inner world begins to come alive. At the start of rehearsals, it feels as though you do not know how to feel, walk or speak. Little by little, the character begins to grow, until suddenly you find yourself able to fill and command the entire space. That is when you relax into it and it no longer feels forced.
Opening nights are always difficult. When the first audience arrives, terror strikes every time, and I become acutely aware of my own acting. I perform while constantly feeling slightly outside or beside myself. The older and more experienced you become, the less time it takes for your presence to feel light yet active again – for you to live fully in the moment and the situation.
Acting requires the courage not to care about how you look or feel, and to think and do things that do not come naturally to you. You need curiosity and childlike enthusiasm. The work also requires you to tolerate being bad at something, tolerate incompleteness and tolerate other people.
I think it is a universal ideal to be the kind of colleague who makes other people’s work easier and brings lightness to life and to the workplace. It is wonderful if you can be someone who shows every day that, ultimately, this is not all so serious. There are people like that here, and I would like to become one of them.
The atmosphere here is unique and very dear to me, and it is created by the people who work here. Together, we create something new, explore emotions and live through them. Even though those emotions are constructed or prescribed, they are the kinds of feelings usually reserved for the people closest to us. Here, we experience them as part of our work, which is quite extraordinary. One consequence is that the work demands a certain degree of trust and openness.
Acting is endlessly fascinating, because every production introduces you to something you were previously unaware of. Theatre makes history so much more vivid and helps you understand cause and effect more clearly. Our task as actors and artists is to help audiences empathise with the fates of different people, to bring taboos into the open and to foster empathy.
At Helsinki City Theatre, perseverance gives you the opportunity to take on all kinds of work – and there is always enough of it to leave you in no doubt that you have worked hard. Although I began primarily as a musical theatre performer, these days I also get to work in other forms of drama. Each year feels more interesting than the last. This is a safe place to explore different ways of telling stories.
