In the spring on the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre’s Contemporary Performance, we ask who the stage belongs to – Kaino Wennerstrand’s Empty Stage and Arni Rajamäki’s The Beginning Mid End

Kaino Wennerstrand, who has also been awarded the State Prize for Media Art, will bring his stage work Empty Stage to the stage of Studio Pasila. The solo work, which combines stage scenes and musical performances, is the revenge of a body for the way of life that, as if in passing, punishes all those bodies that could not – or did not want to enter – the light, empty Scandinavian apartments to play dollhouse. The work draws its inspiration from plays in which revenge is total, such as Seneca in Medea, and it plays with the horrors of the inner stages familiar from Samuel Beckett’s The End of Play.  Arni Rajamäki’s The Beginning, the Middle, the End, on the other hand, is a reflection of frustration with the boredom of theatre and the way of life of heterosexuals; the performance is a proposal for a different kind of theatre in which the sense of moderation is tested. and the limits of incompleteness. In a concerted and anarchic speech performance, the audience gets to observe what happens in the moment where the performer and the text meet: the actor performs the text of the play to the audience prima vista, i.e. seeing it on stage for the first time. At Studio Pasila, the performers will be actors Sanna-June Hyde, Mikko Virtanen, Leena Rapola, Sanna Majuri and theatre director Kari Arffman. The performance premiered at the Free Art Space in 2021 and has since been performed at Hangö teaterträff (2023), Teatteri Takomo (2023) and Tampere Theatre Festival (2022). In August 2024, the contemporary puppet theatre work Whatever Love Means will also be seen on the stage of the contemporary performance. Tickets for the performance will go on sale in March 2024.  From a pilot project to a part of the City Theatre’s repertoire The theatre’s stage began operating in 2021 as a pilot project, the purpose of which was to create a bridge between the institutional theatre and the independent field, as well as to introduce new forms of performing arts as part of the theatre’s repertoire. From 2024 onwards, the stage will continue as part of the theatre’s repertoire. Curator Riikka Thitz is responsible for the stage design and programme selections.“The change of the role from a pilot project to a closer part of the City Theatre gives us the opportunity to continue building and developing the stage. The stage will continue to support the diversity of forms of expression in the Finnish field of contemporary art, as it will bring a new kind of space to the ecosystem with its own special characteristics and strengths. For example, within the framework of Studio Pasila, we are able to scale both the stage and the auditorium towards a larger size and thus support the development of future aesthetics and working methods,” says Thitz. The stage was created on the initiative of artists working in the independent field of performing arts. In the spring of 2019, a working group assembled by Lauri Antti Mattila submitted a proposal to the management team of the Helsinki City Theatre, which was signed by 885 performing arts professionals. The proposal asked the theatre to respond to current changes in society and in the field of performing arts. The stage for the current performance will be supported by Kone Foundation in 2024–2025.  Performances on the stage of a contemporary performance 11.4.–15.5.2024: 11.4.–15.5.2024 Kaino Wennerstrand: Empty Stage 19.4.–4.5.2024 Arni Rajamäki: Beginning, Middle, End On the stage of a contemporary performance in August 2024: 7.–15.8.2024 Taija Helminen & working group: Whatever Love Means (tickets on sale in March 2024) Helsinki City Theatre ticket sales and customer service by phone (09) 3940 22 Mon–Fri 9 am–5 pm. Ticket offices First line 2, Mon–Fri 12 noon–5 pm, Eläintarhantie 5, Sat (on performance days) 11 am–6 pm and always one hour before the performance and Lippu.fi, Mon–Sat 9 am–9 pm, Sun 10 am–6 pm, tel. 0600 900 900 (€2/min + local network charge) www.hkt.fi   

Press release photo: Eero Yli-Vakkuri

Further information, media ticket and interview requests: Communications and Marketing Manager Emmi Linnankivi, 050 440 1612 Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja 2, 00530 Helsinki