The City Theatre published its annual report for 2023 – in the 2023–2024 performance year, the theatre had almost 276,000 spectators

The Helsinki City Theatre’s annual report for 2023 is available on the theatre’s website.

On the big stage, the most viewers in the 2023-2024 performance year were the enchanting Disney musical The Little Mermaid (65,644) and the farce classic Money from the Air (26,356). The most watched performance on the Arena stage was the chilling suspense play Mousetrap, which moved to the big stage in the spring of 2024 due to huge demand. It was watched by a total of 44,002 viewers. On the small stage, Jerusalem, which sold out almost all of its performances, attracted the most viewers (8,938), and on the bilingual stage of Lilla Teatern, the musical Katrina received the most viewers (6,243). At Studio Pasila, the dance performance Blood Wedding (5,343) received the most viewers, which was also the most watched performance of the year by the City Theatre’s dance group Helsinki Dance Company. The most popular foyer performance was the Christmas fairy tale Twelve Gifts to Santa Claus (1,382), performed in the foyer of the small stage. After the pilot project, the Contemporary Performance Stage, which became an established part of the City Theatre’s repertoire, attracted a total of 2,498 spectators during the year, and the most popular performance was the wordless nano-puppet theatre performance Nano Steps (867 spectators).

A year of environmental action

Helsinki City Theatre has wanted to invest in responsibility and environmental actions. In the spring of 2023, a Finnish translation of the environmental management system Theatre Green Book, developed in the United Kingdom, was published, in the production of which HKT participated together with the Finnish National Opera and Ballet and the Association of Finnish Theatres. In the autumn of 2023, HKT launched an environmental management project with the aim of introducing the Theatre’s Green Book in theatre productions.

“With our new strategy, we want to further develop our operations and make theatre even more sustainable. The whole past year has been a year of many environmental actions. With the piloting of the Green Paper, we have, among other things, replaced the lighting equipment of the entire large stage with LED floodlights. This solution will save energy and maintenance costs and will also affect the artistic quality of the works on the big stage. A separate solar power plant was also built on the roof of the theatre, which was commissioned in the spring of 2024,” says theatre director Kari Arffman.

In the repertoire in the autumn season 2024

The diverse programme of the autumn 2024 season will start with the contemporary puppet theatre performance Whatever Love Means on the stage of Nykyesitys on 7 August at Studio Pasila.

The autumn season on the big stage opens with the long-awaited premiere of the Moulin Rouge, a celebration of truth, beauty, freedom and love, which will premiere on 29 August! Musical. The autumn season on the big stage continues on 17 October, when Astrid Lindgren’s beloved adventure classic My Brother Lionheart premieres. In December, the big stage will get into the Christmas spirit at the Senior Soup Christmas concert on 3 December.

In the autumn season, the Arena Stage will present the hilarious new comedy Surprise Guest, which will premiere on 12 September. In addition, the boisterous musical comedy Forever Young and the ever-popular Stones in Your Pocket will continue on the Arena stage. In addition, stand-up comedians Ali Jahangiri and Iikka Kivi and Aulikki Oksanen will visit the Arena Stage at the 80th anniversary concert.

On the small stage, the hopeful new drama Time of Joy will premiere on 5 September, and on 9 October, the autumn dance event, Jarkko Mandelin’s new work Silence, will premiere.

In the autumn season, starting on 4 September, Studio Pasila will present a musical entertainment evening Woman – Always in the Best Age, offering light, joy and happiness in life. In addition, the popular stand-up club Club Act!one will continue in Studio Pasila, and the improvisation theatre Stella Polaris will visit in the autumn season.

On the Swedish-language stage of Lilla Teatern, the musical Dancer in the Dark, based on Lars von Trier’s acclaimed film, will premiere on 31 August and Århundradets kärlekssaga starring Minttu Mustakallio on 10 October. In addition, Swedish comedian Nour El Refai will visit Lilla Teatern with his performance Nour El Refai – säger skämt i ca 75 minutes.

The first collaborative performance of the Helsinki City Theatre and Q-teatteri, M – Notes on the Case of a Malmi Resident, will premiere on 30 August at Malmi. The performance is part of the regional Malmi in the Main Role art project.

Annualreport 2023 in English Annual report 2023 in English

Helsinki City Theatre’s ticket sales and customer service by phone (09) 394022 Mon-Fri 9-17.30 (18.5.-26.7. Mon-Fri 9-16). Ticket offices First line 2, Mon-Fri 11-17.30, Eläintarhantie 5, Sat (on performance days) 11-18 and one hour before the performance (ticket offices during summer break 18.5.-28.7.) and Lippu.fi, Mon-Sat 9-21, Sun 10-18, tel. 0600 900 900 (2 €/min + local network charge) www.hkt.fi

Photo from the musical The Little Mermaid, photographer Robert Seger.

Further information, media ticket reservations and interview requests:
Communications Coordinator Peppi Lehmussaari, peppi.lehmussaari@hkt.fi, 050 336 4747
Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja 2, 00530 Helsinki