Tampere Theatre Festival Set For This August

The 54th edition of Tampere Theatre Festival 2023 is taking place in Tampere, Finland, between 7-13 August.

The Tampere Theatre Festival, one of Europe's premier showcases since its beginning in 1968, presents the cutting edge of theatre from Finland and abroad. The festival is Scandinavia's oldest and largest professional theatre festival.

The 2023 Main Programme

The Main Programme, selected by the festival's Artistic Team, Hilkka-Liisa Iivanainen, Taija Helminen and Tanjalotta Räikkä together with Executive Director Hanna Rosendahl, forms the artistic framework of the festival. This year's Main Programme includes altogether 19 productions from Finland and abroad.

"2023 Main Programme showcases a thick and colorful slice of Finnish theatre. Further electrified by outstanding international input, the event will be an immersive weeklong panorama, a shared experience inside a vast and varied landscape with crisscrossing topics, intersecting approaches and a sea of voices conversing about the meaning of art", the Artistic Team describes.

There are five outstanding pieces in this year's international programme:

• Yé! by Circus Baobab (GN)
• Flesh by Cie Still Life (BE)
• It Stays As It Is by Mart Kangro, Juhan Ulfsak, Eero Epner / Kanuti Gildi Saal (EE)
• Lonely Lonely Oh So Lonely by James Long / Simon Fraser University (CA)
• Shadow (the film) by Back to Back Pictures (AT)

The national programme consists of 14 Finnish theatre gems, three of which are understandable for non-Finnish-speaking audiences too:

• Pottery Shards by Porttiteatteri
(subtitled in English)
• Letting Go by the Finnish National Theatre
(subtitled in English)
• Receptionists by Kallo Collective
(suitable for any language level)

The festival offers also a large number of events at additional programmes, including the club programme T Lab, the Fringe Festival OFF Tampere, and the Nocturnal Happening on Thursday, 10 August. The programme of T Lab is out already, and the rest of additional programming will be announced during the summer.