5th INTERNATIONAL BALTIC CIRCLE THEATRE FESTIVAL
(2008 02 18 12:53)
This year, the international theatre festival Baltic Circle in Helsinki takes place for the fifth time. The dates of the festival have been moved to spring so this time it is the month of May that offers contemporary theatre from the Baltic region and central Europe and the new timeframe also takes performances out of the black box. This spring’s festival offers yet another novelty: the OFF Circle with a tight programme of contemporary performances from Finland.
The festival programme includes amongst others a Swiss interpretation of Finnish drinking culture in the production Delirium by the group Plasma, the strongly anti-capitalist Swedish Ebberöds bank by Teater Tribunalen as well as the photo exhibition Miss Landmine Angola 2008 by Norwegian artist Morten Traavik which has caused a stir all over the world. In addition, Traavik also brings his new street theatre performance Remember Me to Finland. 
Together with Helsinki Festival, Baltic Circle acts as the Finnish co-producer of the German-Swiss production Call Cutta in a Box by Rimini Protokoll. The production has been co-produced by eight European theatre organisations and is premiered in the course of this year in each of the co-producers’ hometowns. In Finland, Call Cutta in a Box has two series of performances, one in May during the Baltic Cirlce and the other in August during the Helsinki Festival. Call Cutta in a Box is an intercontinental phone play which unites a Finnish spectator with a call centre operator located in India for one hour.
In addition to Rimini Protokoll and Plasma, more contemporary central European theatre is offered by the German group büro für zeit + raum. The group has existed for a couple of years and is now on the rise, its first production Wait here for further instructions having been awarded prizes by the 100° Berlin off theatre festival and the Kontrapunkt festival in Poland. Apart from Wait here for further instructions Baltic Circle also brings the group’s second production Past is in Front of Ego to Helsinki.
With its own programme of Finnish contemporary performances the OFF Circle and its twelve productions offers the perfect opportunity to get to know the lively contemporary performance scene of Finland. The OFF Circle includes amongst others the new work Radio Doomsday which Kristian Smeds, probably the best known Finnish director, made for Houkka Bros and Koko Theatre’s Finnish-Estonian contemporary dance piece Man-Machine as well as Q-Theatre’s The Tin Drum with English subtitles.
The festival is organised by Q-Theatre, Koko Theatre and this year for the first time also by Smeds Ensemble. Smeds Ensemble is in charge of the three-day Fuck Off Festival Club. The club nights are a platform for Finnish and Estonian theatre professionals to perform with their bands.
In connection with the festival the international workshop for critics Mobile Lab for Theatre and Communication is organised as well as the open seminar about Finnish theatre reviewing today held in Finnish.
For further information and programme visit this site