The Helsinki City Theatre has a handsome 305,000 spectators!
In 2019, the Helsinki City Theatre exceeded the 300,000 spectator mark, which is typical of its record years 2002-2012. A total of 305,568 spectators visited the City Theatre during the year. This was an increase of about 15 per cent compared to the previous year 2018 (263,832 ). There were 885 performances during the year, and the repertoire included a total of 40 different productions, of which 17 were premieres. In addition, almost 17,000 theatre friends participated in various audience outreach events during the year.
“I’m really happy that such a large audience has found their way to our performances! For that, I would like to thank the audience and also our highly skilled staff. We want to continuously develop our operations and offer the audience experiential stories with our diverse repertoire. I think that these times also strengthen the appeal of stories and theatre and, on the other hand, interest in the encounter offered by a live performance,” says theatre director Kari Arffman.
The musicals The Little Mermaid (67,976 ) and Kinky Boots (54,004 ) on the big stage attracted the most viewers during the year, the former of which will continue in the programme of the spring 2020 season.
On the small stage, the audience was particularly interested in Tahto (8,778 ), about skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, and Martti Suosalo’s interpretation of The Best in Life (8,635 ). Studio Pasila’s main attractions were Fingerpori, based on Pertti Jarla’s comic strip and still in the repertoire (9,741), and the sitcom Threesome (7,924 ).
The farce comedy Perfect Saturday (17,558 ) and Taneli Mäkelä’s interpretation of The Man Who Loved Order (7,160 ), which will continue in the spring season, received the most viewers on the Arena stage.
The favourites of the Swedish-language Lilla Teatern were the French comedy Ens lite lugn i huset (4,452 ) and the new drama comedy Äktenskapsgrejen (4,009 ). Helsinki City Theatre’s dance group Helsinki Dance Company’s Bonfire: Wandering Bands of Storytelling Sapiens received 1,586 viewers.
HKT’s performances were also seen outside the company’s own house. The record-breaking popular Stones in the Pocket, which has been performed to full houses since 2002, visited thirteen cities for 28 performances during the spring. In addition, the Art for Homes project of the audience outreach project Valokeilassa Koillinen brought performances to people’s living rooms.
The pre-sale in spring 2020 also looks excellent. On the big stage, Emily Brontë’s masterpiece Humming Ridge will premiere as a fresh direction by Lauri Maijala . On the small stage, the year begins with Steve Martin’s comedy novel Starfall. This spring’s Finnish novelties include Timo Kahilainen’s and Heikki Vihinen’s Le Coq – Battle for a Restaurant on the Arena Stage, Kari Heiskanen’s Stalin’s Sweet Whip on a Small Stage, Carl Knif’s dance piece Two-Colour Fugue and Lilla Teatern’s Finnish novelties, Faktum händelser , based on true stories collected from the audience, and Marcus Rosenlund’s play debut Morfars Mauser.
Helsinki City Theatre ticket office, First Line 2, Mon-Fri 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Eläintarhantie 5 Sat 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and one hour before the performance and Lippupiste Mon-Sat 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., tel. 0600 900 900 (2 €/min + local network charge)
www.hkt.fi
@hkt.fi #hktfi #helsinginkaupunginteatteri #yleisöävarten
Press photos can be found in the image bank and press releases in the newsroom.
Further information, media ticket reservations and interview requests: Helsinki City Theatre, Communications Manager Kaisa Pelkonen, kaisa.pelkonen@hkt.fi, 040 552 3788
Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja 2, 00530 Helsinki