Helsinki City Theatre and the Finnish National Theatre join forces at the Young Stage Festival
As part of the Young Stage project of the Association of Finnish Workers’ Stages, the Helsinki City Theatre and the Finnish National Theatre are organising a youth theatre festival on 4–6 May 2018. As a joint effort of two professional theatres and youth groups, a total of 13 performances will be seen at the City Theatre’s studio in Pasila and the National Theatre’s Small Stage.
The Young Stage concept is a unique entity in terms of art education and performance art, in which young theatre enthusiasts can work with professionals on a long-term basis. The participating professional theatres can expand their audience base, arouse a permanent interest in theatre art among young people and offer high-quality theatre services. In addition, new, high-quality plays are created for young people to perform or watch. In 2016–2018, a total of 7 professional theatres, four playwrights and more than 400 young people are involved in the national project.
Otso Reijonen, 15, is involved in Veikko Nuutinen’s play On Isis , performed by Teatteri Werner in Porvoo.
“It’s interesting that the performance takes place in the real world, but it’s still absurd. Anyone could relate to the protagonist! The visits of the group’s sponsor Marjut Toivanen to the exercises have been inspiring, and we have learned and benefited enormously. I’m really looking forward to the festival, because I’ve never performed on such a big stage and in front of such a big audience before,” says Otso Reijonen, who has been doing theatre for six years.
“The Young Stage is a great thing! Theatre is about inventing a story together, and the awareness of being part of a larger whole than your own group adds another deeper, collective level to the experience. The young people seem to be straightening their backs: this is our thing, this is what we can do. It’s great to watch those successes and set wins from the sidelines. The fearlessness to throw oneself is disarming. The spice is when you immediately fly back to the moments when you started theatre as a hobby when you were watching young people,” says actor Tuukka Leppänen, the sponsor of the theatre group at Tapiola Upper Secondary School.
The cooperation will culminate locally in five theatre festivals in April-May 2018, when 27 different interpretations of four plays will be premiered throughout Finland. The young people aged 13–19 have chosen to perform one of three plays written for the project and one translated into Finnish. The multifaceted play texts for 13–19-year-olds are written by Gunilla Hemming, Pipsa Longa and Veikko Nuutinen. The fourth play was written by Rasmus Lindberg for a similar project in Sweden in 2014.
The sponsor groups of the Helsinki City Theatre are the Annantalo theatre group Vire, Martinlaakso Upper Secondary School, Tapiola Upper Secondary School, Kallio Upper Secondary School, Järvenpää Theatre Youth, Theatre Werner from Porvoo and the drama group of Havukoski School. The sponsors of the groups are actors Heidi Herala, Tuukka Leppänen, Eija Vilpas, Sanna Saarijärvi, Marjut Toivanen, Sari Haapamäki and set designer Antti Mattila.
The sponsor groups of the National Theatre are the Into group of Annantalo, the Hyrdet and Järdet group, the Tukiranka group of Teatteri ILMI Ö, the Solaris group of Olari Upper Secondary School, the Salo Theatre School and the group of Vaskivuori Upper Secondary School. The sponsors of the groups are actors Katariina Kaitue, Jani Karvinen, Cécile Orblin and Ilja Peltonen , as well as director Jukka Rantanen and set designer Katri Rentto.
In August 2018, in the early days of the Tampere Theatre Festival, the grand Young Stage closing festival will be held on the two stages of the Tampere Workers’ Theatre on 4.-5.8.2018. This is a festive review of new youth play texts, to which interpretations of each of the four plays will be invited.
The national implementer of the Young Stage project is the Association of Finnish Workers’ Stages. The project is supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and the People’s Education Fund.
Check out the programme of the Young Stage Festival on 4-6 May and buy tickets (5 € each):
Helsinki City Theatre: https://hkt.fi/esitykset/nuori-nayttamo-festivaali-2/
Finnish National Theatre: https://kansallisteatteri.fi/esitys/nuori-nayttamo-festivaali/
Further information:
Helsinki City Theatre
Mirja Neuvonen, Audience Outreach Coordinator, mirja.neuvonen@hkt.fi, 040 352 3969
Kaisa Pelkonen, Communications Officer, kaisa.pelkonen@hkt.fi, 040 552 3788
Finnish National Theatre
theatre curator Pirjo Virtanen, teatterikasvatus@kansallisteatteri.fi, 050 374 2296
Linda Lopperi, Communications Manager, linda.lopperi@kansallisteatteri.fi, 050 540 5062