Here are nine tips for theater spring: war, virtual love simulation and real people

Juho Milonoff stares at the globe.
Five illegitimate sons of Jörn Donner, who are all Otto Gabrielssons, will be seen in KOM theater’s Rikkaruoho.

There is a direct shortage of interesting shows in the season that has started. Many works deal with heavy themes, such as missing a father, war or dictatorship. On the other hand, many approach pain lightly.

1. Tampere Työväen Teatteri: Jeanne d’Arc’s pants

Illuminated by red lights, people celebrating on the table and chatting in the background.
In Jeanne D’Arc’s pants, three women who are worn out by the public face each other in a sauna shift.

The show visits the Espoo City Theater at the turn of March-April.

2. KOM theater: Weed

The performers of the Rikkaruoho play in the hut by the light of flashlights.
Vilma Melasniemi, Ella Mettänen, Juho Milonoff, Niko Saarela and Miiko Toiviainen will be seen as Otto.

3. Avatar’s Journey

A woman, surrounded by flowers, stretches out her hand towards the photographer.
The love simulation EVE takes place partly in the virtual world.

EVE is a multi-artistic experience that transports you to the virtual world, which begins with a listening session before the performance. On the spot, viewers dive into another reality with the help of VR glasses and headphones – or at least that’s what is promised. There, the participants of the simulation unspokenly encounter \”others like them\” searchers of the love algorithm. In the introduction, EVE is said to be \”the mirror of our memories and the game of our dreams\”.

Team EVE has been developing Love Simulation since 2016 with the support of, among other things, the Ministry of Education and Culture. The multidisciplinary group has included experts from a love researcher to an intimacy instructor and from an immersive sound design expert to metaverse artists. Memories of EVE are brought to life by a cast of ten. Some of the sections they present are interactive.

The show is aimed at people over 16 years old.

4. Lahti City Theatre: The price of truth

Jarkko Lahti looks at the camera.
Jarkko Lahti will be seen at the Lahti City Theater as Putin.

The story based on true events, moving like a thriller, transports viewers from Moscow to London. It describes how Litvinenko, who revealed abuses, was assassinated on Russian orders and how his spouse did everything to reveal the truth.

5. Open Doors: Winter War

Two women bite the middle woman's hair while posing.  In the background, buildings destroyed in the winter war.
The winter war is Finnish-Ukrainian-Russian cooperation.

The *Talvisota* of Helsinki’s Avoimet Ovet theater is at least as current as *The Price of Truth* seen in Lahti. Talvisota is the result of the Finnish-Ukrainian-Russian cooperation, the first show, which gropes towards the truth about the Finnish winter war, free of political agendas. The work deals with the need for burden sharing and forgiveness across generations.

Written for three female actors, the episodic performance moves on three time levels and between the perspectives of three nations. *Talvisota* accompanies a member of the Ukrainian military band on the 1939 Raatteentie and ends up looking for a Russian writer who disappeared on the Kharkov front last year.

*Talvisota* started already in 2009 in the text workshop of the Baltic Circle festival as a reading drama. The war of Russian aggression renewed the work: it was written according to the authors this moment. The two Russian playwrights who participated in the workshop live in exile, one of the Ukrainians is at the front, the other is writing *Winter War* under missile fire in the middle of the ruins.

Standard presentation 8 March 2023.

6. Helsinki City Theatre: Didn’t say he regretted it

Aino Seppo is standing on stage.  Four figures stand out behind him.
Didn’t say he regrets is a celebration of superhero actors. Pictured is Aino Seppo.

*Didn’t say she regretted it* tells about Finnish women who were in the service of the Germans during the war; of those who baked bread, cared for the sick, washed the bodies and made the coffee – and who were defamed and molested after the war. In the Helsinki City Theatre’s performance, a group of five women wander with their heads plucked through the wilderness created on the big stage and burnt Lapland.

The play is a celebration of strong female actors and wonderful music. According to popular custom, the band will be on stage throughout the show.

7. Jurkka Theatre: Selli

A woman and a man bring directly to the viewer.  The man has a camera ready to shoot in his hand.
Finland’s smallest professional theater Jurkka celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

Jurkka is celebrating its 70th anniversary with a new domestic drama.

*Selli* is a psychological thriller in which a young journalist goes to Nigeria to report on Shell’s environmental and human rights crimes. At the same time, the company is responsible for its actions before international courts. An experienced photographer goes with the reporter. The couple ends up in a police prison on suspicion of terrorism.

Standard presentation 25 March 2023.

8. Virus: Familjen Bra

The family prepares to eat at a low table, sitting on the floor.
Familjen Bra gets a well-deserved new arrival in Viirus’ software.

The Swedish-language Helsinki theater Viirus is known for its bold and boundary-breaking repertoire. *Familjen Bra* premiered in the fall of 2020, when it was exceptionally badly affected by the pandemic restrictions. At the end of March, it will return to the stage.

Performances from 23 March 2023.

9. Uniarts: Karpo has something – true stories from the land of coniferous forests

Hilma Kotkaniemi, Anssi Niemi and Suvi Blick
At Karpo, the issue is the cooperation of several theaters. In the photo, Hilma Kotkaniemi, Anssi Niemi and Suvi Blick at the Kotka City Theater rehearsals in October 2021.

*Karpo has something to do* is part Stages open! – an entity in which acting students are brought together with a professional director. The goal is to offer students experience in professional theater and introduce the new generation of actors to the general public.

Presentations 23.3. from 2023 onwards.

Read more about the show at this link.