Mobile.theatre (Finnish Case)
9.-12.11.2006

is a Finnish theatre showcase organised by Baltic Circle, Finnish Theatre Information Centre and Finnish Theatre Centre. During this weekend the Finns are hosting a huge world-wide conference of performing arts called Mobile.home.

Mobile.theatre, which goes also with the name Finnish Case, is presenting the biggest hits and newest premieres of Finnish theatre to international conference guests.  The whole programme includes also performance art (organised by Kiasma Theatre), contemporary dance (organised by Finnish Dance information Centre) and new circus (organised by Cirko - Centre for New Circus). 

Mobile.home

is a  year-long project celebrating the “European Year of Workers’ Mobility 2006” It will look at successes and obstacles to the movement of arts and artists across European borders, as guaranteed by the European union treaties. It will bring all these strands together in a major conference (9-12 November 2006), inviting arts organisations, employers, public administrations, networks and others to discuss and debate key topics, look at good practise models and propose practical solutions to existing obstacles.
www.pearle.ws/mobile.home

IETM

is a membership organisation which exists to stimulate the quality, development and contexts of contemporary performing arts in a global environment, by initiating and facilitating professional networking and communication, the dynamic exchange of information, know-how transfer and presentations of examples of good practice.
www.ietm.org

Preliminary theatre programme

Thursday 9.11.

19:00 Q-theatre: Variatio Delectat - bad will
19:00 Ryhmäteatteri: Happy Endings
20:00 Theatre Mars: Blås

Friday 10.11.

17:00 Teatteri Hevosenkenkä: Macbeth - Riivatut
18:00 Theatre Vanha Juko (Lahti): I Am Adolf Eichmann
19:00 Q-theatre: Variatio Delectat - bad will
19:00 Ryhmäteatteri: Happy Endigns
19:00 KokoTheatre: Romeo and Julia
19:00 Finnish National Theatre: The Stockroom
20:00 Theatre Mars: Blås

Saturday 11.11.

13:00 Theater Jurkka: The Fundamentalist
19:00 Ryhmäteatteri: Happy Endings
19:00 KokoTheatre: Romeo and Julia
19:00 Q-theatre: Variatio Delectat - bad will
22:00 Thatre Mars: Blås

Sunday 12.11.

19:00 Theatre Viirus: No Return
20:00 Theatre Mars: Blås

Short descriptions about the performances

Q-teatteri
Variatio Delectat – bad will by Antti Hietala

Q-teatteri was founded in March 1990 by a group of free-lance actors. Their aim is to create new ways and conditions to make independent, original, and experimental theatre and to develop different rehearsing methods. Most of the Q-teatteri´s plays have been first public performances in Finland. Q-teatteri's Baltic Circle project has organised three international theatre festivals, and has been a co-producer in several international productions.

Variatio Delectat - bad will is made up of different story lines combined by the theme of violence. It is a description of the dark side of humanity, a series of stories about the bad will. Like Peter Kürten, the monster of Dusseldorf, said, “Every criminal reaches a point, where you can´t go any further.” But this is also a story about love – an unusual, star-crossed love...

KokoTeatteri
Romeo ja Julia by Andrus Kivirähk

The Koko Theatre is an independent professional theatre. Its repertoire is very diverse ranging from drama to contemporary dance.

This new adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic love story, written by the Estonian Andrus Kivirähk, is a beautiful fairytale for adults which combines theatre, dance, poetry and music. Kivirähk’s play is set in a small village in the Estonian countryside where only few men live, trying to survive. Ancient grudge between humans and roe-deer is awoken when Romeo, a young shepherd, and Juliet, a roe-deer, fall in love...

Ryhmäteatteri
Hyvin päättyy kaikki (Happy Endings) by Esa Leskinen


The Ryhmäteatteri (Group Theatre) is a professional theatre which was founded 1967 and presents two to three productions every year. The artistic directors are Mika Myllyaho and Esa Leskinen.

Bartholomeus and Balthasar are vagabonds and street musicians from the Balkan. They have ended up living in an abandoned house somewhere on the outskirts of a big city, both of them alcoholics and withdrawn from society. They aren’t too bright, but there is still a lot of dignity and beauty in their lives. This serious comedy studies the phenomenal ability of human beings to seek and find light even though the world around them seems dark, unjust, greedy and violent. In this world, one person tries to tell himself a story with a happy ending.

Teater Mars
Blås by Joakim Groth, Niklas Häggblom, Anders Slotte, Hellen Willberg

Teater Mars is a fringe company which has collaborated with established theatres on numerous occasions since its foundation in 1985.

Three unemployed friends ask themselves about the meaning of life. Can music help them get a job? Or at least make them forget for a short moment their daily struggles? As this comedy unfolds the audience gets sucked in as much by these quirky characters as by their music. It’s nothing but the blues!

Teatteri Jurkka
Fundamentalisti (The Fundamentalist) by Juha Jokela

The Jurkka Theatre is the only professional “chamber theater” in Finland. It was founded in 1953 by a mother and daughter, Emmi and Vappu Jurkka. Nowadays it concentrates especially on new Finnish drama.

The Fundamentalist is an intelligent, tightly constructed psychological drama about two people with an obsession for seeking the truth. In this rigid, simple story of two people with different approaches to Christian belief the author examines the nature of religious conviction, the dangers of religious fanaticism and the ease with which even those of us who consider ourselves well-informed and broadminded can become as self-righteous as fundamentalists. Jokela’s play takes an unsettling, uncompromising look at faith, manipulation and vulnerability.

The Finnish National Theatre
The Stockroom by Arto Salminen

The Finnish National Theatre is the oldest professional Finnish language theatre. It presents a diverse programme of artistically challenging productions ranging from international classics to the best in new Finnish drama on four stages. A theatre dedicated to serving that very essence of art: the imagination.

Stockroom worker Rousku finds himself caught in a vortex of romance and theft. As the pressure builds between salesgirl Karita’s blackmail and company owner Kataja’s suspicions, Rousku is soon forced to make some moral choices. Someone is going to have to be the scapegoat, and fellow worker Raninen is the perfect candidate. Set in the basement stockroom of a painting and decorating supplies outlet, the play is a darkly humorous study of the strategies for survival at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Teatteri Vanha Juko
Minä olen Adolf Eichmann (Ich bin Adolf Eichmann/I am Adolf Eichmann) by Jari Juutinen

Teatteri Vanha Juko is one of the most important alternative theatre groups in Finland. It was established ten years ago by five theatre professionals at an old movie-theatre in the heart of the City of Lahti. Nowadays the theatre is probably best known for its strong commitment to new Finnish writing and the provocative political attitude the group takes in its performances. On top of that, they’re also great musicians...!

Minä olen Adolf Eichmann has been said to be one the most important acts in Finnish theatre for years. The play tells the story of the well-known Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962). Eichmann headed the Gestapo Department IV B4 for Jewish Affairs, serving as a self proclaimed “Jewish specialist” and was the man responsible for trains rolling from all over Europe to death camps during the Final Solution. He was hanged in 1962 after a trial held in Jerusalem. The play is an attempt to de-mystify Eichmann, the “Minister of Death” and the whole Nazi era. It is a play about guilt and responsibility – and about the possibilities of human grace. It is also an attempt to fearlessly face the evil in us. It is witty and provocative, full of sorrow and shame, cruel and funny. It is Brecht, Stanislavsky and Monty Python, all in one. It is a performance you’ll find difficult to forget.

Teatteri Hevosenkenkä
Macbeth – The Possessed by William Shakespeare

The famous children’s theatre Teatteri Hevosenkenkä (Horseshoe Theatre) resides in an idyllic old wooden house on the Juhannusmäki Hill in Espoo near Helsinki. The beautifully renovated building features a 130-seat auditorium, a cosy café and permanent puppet and art exhibitions in the Hevosenkenkä Gallery. The theatre produces performances for children from 3-12 as well as plays for young people and adults. Performances are given both on the home stage in Juhannusmäki and on tour around Finland and abroad. The theatre also has a theatre education programme and is committed to reaching as many people as possible by performing in many languages: Finnish, Swedish, Somali, Albanian, German and English. There are approximately 300 performances and 30 000 spectators yearly.

Macbeth – The Possessed is a very serious play describing in a universal way which mechanisms turn a normal man and woman into beasts and thus talks as much to today’s youth as it did in Shakespeare’s time. For many teenagers today life is very difficult. False values like money and fame are tempting but a bad deed can destroy the one who committed it. – The Hevosenkenkä performance has gotten excellent reviews praising all aspects: the acting, the set design, the music and the adaptation and direction

Viirus
No Return by Cezaris

Viirus is a small Swedish speaking theater situated in the heart of Helsinki. Over the years Viirus has developed into an acclaimed and well known theater but it still has the ability to provoke and surprise its audience.

No Return is an adaptation of two short stories by Franz Kafka, the “Nature Theatre of Oklahoma” (taken from the work “Amerika”) and “A Fratricide”. The “Nature Theatre of Oklahoma” is the largest theatre in the world and it is looking for new employees. The first part of No Return is the story of the people seeking employment and their journey to the theatre. In the second part the actors of the “Nature Theatre of Oklahoma” are trying to reconstruct “A Fratricide”, the best play ever performed at their theatre.
This is a story for dreamers, for those who like to pretend that roads stretch into infinity after disappearing beyond the horizon. However, there is a danger in this limitlessness – just as there are endless horizons, there are also endless chasms – but for the most part there is hope, a never-ending hope...