City Theatre’s Backstage opens up a behind-the-scenes world to the audience
The Helsinki City Theatre published a new Backstage section on its website, which opens up theatre in a unique way and introduces the creators. Through interesting articles and videos, the numerous professionals of the theatre are introduced, from dramaturgy to prop designer.
The new Backstage shows, among other things, how a musical is made from idea to premiere, what kind of special relationship can be created between the actor and the make-up artist, what is the journey of the canvas to a finished theatre costume and what kind of special care is required for a valuable, protected theatre building.
“When watching a performance, the theatre audience sees only a fraction of the wonderful work that is being done within the walls of the theatre. We also wanted to let the audience peek behind the scenes of the theatre and get to know the work of these hundreds of professionals, of which we are really proud!”, says theatre director Kari Arffman.
Backstage was implemented in cooperation with the digital agency Creuna as part of the renewal of the theatre’s website.
“The goal was to find the most interesting angle of all the stands that would interest the audience and offer a new, in-depth perspective on the theatre. The idea was to find topics that would be of interest to a wider audience than just in the context of theatre: artistic designers’ reflections on their own creative process give ideas to any creator in the creative fields, or a discussion with directors about the future of Finnish culture is part of an important social debate,” says content strategist Totti Terinkoski from Creuna.
The further development of Backstage also includes, among other things, the addition of various making of materials and personal introductions to the site.
The Helsinki City Theatre employs approximately 240 passionate theatre professionals, from actors to carpenters and from ticket sellers to costume designers. In addition, there are about 100 temporary staff. The share of artistic staff is about 42%, technical staff about 43% and administrative staff about 15%.
In the repertoire, there are more than 30 different productions a year, there are more than 20 premieres and about 1000 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.
Further information:
Helsinki City Theatre, audience worker Jenny Jumppanen, jenny.jumppanen@hkt.fi, 040 6529932.