Anna Takanen ger krigsbarnens barn en röst på Lilla Teatern – Drama novelty gives voice to war children
Swedish theatre profile Anna Takanen’s monologue The Sorrow That Became will have its world premiere at Lilla Teatern on 1.9.2021 in Helsinki. The director is multi-award-winning Mikaela Hasán. The performance will play at Lilla Teatern in September and then tour Sweden.
Anna Takanen is known as a director, playwright, actor and former director of the city theatres in both Stockholm and Gothenburg. In his acclaimed book The Grief That Became (Albert Bonniers Förlag 2019; in Finnish Sina olet suruni, Gummerus 2020), Takanen writes about what it’s like to be the child of a Finnish war child.
His father, Timo Takanen’s move to Sweden during the Continuation War, came to affect the whole family, partly through a lost language and a trauma inherited through generations, but also through warm longing and joyful meetings across borders. Now the book has been dramatised into a monologue and Takanen himself is on stage for the first time in Finland.
” I’m very happy to have the world premiere at Lilla Teatern, in Finland, where the story has its origins. People contact me often and I know that the issue of war children and their descendants is alive both here and in Sweden,” says Anna Takanen, who was recently awarded the Knightof the Order of the Lion of Finland for hermany years of contribution to relations between Sweden and Finland.
The performance also brings together Swedish and Finnish. Takanen’s story is framed by accordion artist Harri Kuusijärvi, who works as a music dramaturg and also participates on stage. The director is Mikaela Hasán, whose latest acclaimed directorial work for DuvTeatern, In the Great Landscape, was awarded the Finnish Thalia Prize for Play of the Year 2020 last spring.
” At the moment, one in five children lives in a war zone. Through The Grief that became , we see a glimpse of how the trauma of war is transmitted to future generations, and sense the extent of the personal tragedies that still exist around us,” says Hasán.
The Grief That Became premieres on September 1 at Lilla Teatern and plays intensively until September 25. Each performance is rounded off with an audience discussion moderated by Anna Takanen’s cousin, editor and author Päivi Storgård, whose father, unlike her brother Timo, was allowed to stay in Finland. Together, the cousins help to break the silence surrounding the trauma of war children.
The performance will be subtitled in Finnish.
After the performance period in Helsinki, Anna Takanen will tour with Sörjen, which was released in Sweden in collaboration with the Swedish National Theatre and Östgötateatern.
For more information, please contact:
Ida Virkkunen, Communications Officer / ida.virkkunen@lillateatern.fi, 050-357 4250, www.lillateatern.fi
A new play gives a voice to the children of war children
Swedish actress, director and playwright Anna Takanen’s harrowing story Sörjen som blev (You Are My Sorrow, Gummerus 2020) will be turned into a theatrical performance that will premiere on 1 September.2021 at Lilla Teatern in Helsinki. The director is award-winning Mikaela Hasán. The performance will tour Sweden in the autumn.
During her 30-year career, theatre veteran and author Anna Takanen has acted, directed and acted as the director of the Gothenburg City Theatre and Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. In her book Sörjen som blev (in Finnish). You Are My Sorrow, Gummerus 2020) Takanen discusses the story of his own family and describes what it was like to be the child of a Finnish war child in Sweden.
The Swedishization of his father Timo Takanen, who was sent from Finland to Sweden as a war child at the age of four, meant the loss of his mother tongue and the birth of war trauma that would be passed on to future generations, but over the years also warm contacts and encounters across borders. Now the story has been dramatised into a monologue and Anna Takanen is stepping onto the Finnish theatre stage for the first time.
“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to premiere Sörjen som blev at Lilla Teatern, my father’s birthplace, where it all began. I am often contacted by different people, and I know for sure that the topic is topical in both Finland and Sweden,” says Takanen, who was awarded the Order of the Lion of Finland last spring for her cultural work for Finland and Sweden.
In the performance, too, Finnishness and Swedishness meet. Takanen will be joined on stage by accordionist Harri Kuusijärvi, who will act as the musical dramaturg of the performance and create a magical soundscape from the stage. The director is Mikaela Hasán, whose acclaimed works include: I det stora landskapet (DUVteatern), winner of the Thalia Award for Performance of the Year 2020.
“ At the moment, one in five children lives in war zones. Anna’s story helps us all to see how war trauma is passed on from one generation to the next, as well as to understand the extent of the personal war tragedies that surround us.
Sörjen som blev will premiere on 1.9.2021 at Lilla Teatern, and it will only be performed intensively during September. Each screening also includes a discussion section, moderated by Takanen’s cousin, journalist and author Päivi Storgård. Storgård’s father was the younger brother of Timo Takanen, who, unlike his older brother, was allowed to stay in Finland. Together, the cousins try to break the silence associated with war children.
The performance is in Swedish and it will be subtitled in Finnish and Swedish. After the September performance season, Sörjen som blev will tour Sweden in collaboration with Riksteatern and Östgötateatern.
premiere 1.9.2021 at Lilla Teatern (Yrjönkatu 30)
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Further information, media ticket reservations and interview requests:
Ida Virkkunen, Communications Officer, ida.virkkunen@lillateatern.fi, 050 357 4250, www.lillateatern.fi
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