Contemporary plays originally written in languages other than English are rarely performed in Finnish theatres. Theatre statistics show that, in the past ten years, plays written in other languages only accounted for 12–15 per cent of the total before the pandemic. Finnish plays have played a strong role in the theatre in the 21st century, and most of the foreign material that ends up on the stages is Anglo-Saxon drama.

What does this tell us about our theatre culture and the reality we are building around us through the stories we hear and the imagery they receive? What kinds of worlds do we fail to experience and understand? How can the world be brought to the stage?

In Finland, theatre is rooted in language. Ten years ago, a South Korean critic wrote about his visit to a Finnish performing arts festival. He had been surprised by the dominance of language in Finnish theatre: “Here in Helsinki, language was almost everything.” Verbal vs. Physical Theatre on Stage Helsinki 2012 – Critical Stages/Scènes critiques (critical-stages.org) Although the theatre was linguistically oriented, philosophical and modest, the audience – whom he described as “individualistic, pragmatic loners” – was enthusiastic about the performances.

Of course, Finnish performing arts cannot be summed up by a review written ten years ago about a theatre festival, but statistics support the critic’s view that linguistic expression is valued in Finland. This does not mean that the position of playwrights is any better here than elsewhere. A look at the theatre statistics shows that a huge number of theatrical texts are written each year in various formations.

What if, in addition to Finnish plays written in Finnish and Swedish, we regularly saw contemporary plays originally written in, for example, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Catalan, Arabic, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian? Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) is in charge of a project launched and funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, which aims to help make theatre programming more diverse. This winter, an expert group of authors, dramaturges and theatre professionals has been studying foreign drama and reading works in different languages. The first 25 proposals of the three-year World on Stage project will be published at the end of March.

The reader group knows a total of 14 languages: three of them speak Finnish as their first language, one Finland Swedish, one Arabic, and one feels most at home in French and Italian. Despite his Moroccan background, Brussels-based author Taha Adnan says that he wrote his play in Standard Arabic, or Fusha, which is nobody’s mother tongue. However, Fusha opens doors for Adnan’s plays in 19 Arabic-speaking countries, where many different Arabic variants are used to communicate.

The plays have been read with the idea that there are famous stories out there, including ones that would speak to Finnish audiences, that have not yet been premiered in Finland. Consideration has been given to what kind of localness can make a play difficult to adapt elsewhere. World on Stage is a vigorous attempt to overcome any obstacles to performing plays from other theatre traditions in Finland and also a generous financial incentive to fill narrative gaps in our programmes.

The world can be brought to the stage, although we are still largely tied to language in theatrical expression. Our eyes will next turn to translators, whose challenging task is to convey the texts into Finnish or Swedish, understanding the special characteristics of translating plays. The competence of translators will be truly tested, since even brilliant language skills may not be enough. When translating a play, the translator does not go directly to the text, but starts by looking between the lines, trying to find clues about the world around the play.

Never seen on Finnish stages before, these plays will bring us not only their language but so many other things, too. At the same time, we may perhaps get acquainted with a new kind of rhythm or music of the performance, a completely new view of stage from the audience perspective – who is speaking on the stage and what they are telling us with their body language.

Authors:

Linnea Stara ja Sari Havukainen

The authors are the Director and Communications Manager of Theatre Info Finland (TINFO).

Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) is an expert in Finnish theatre. TINFO compiles statistics, draws up reports and provides actors in the field of performing arts with advice and mentoring in international mobility.  The World on Stage project will publish a list of 25 plays on 25 March 2022. Taha Adnan’s monologue play Bye Bye Gillo (translated into Finnish by Sampsa Peltonen) will receive a readers theatre interpretation on the evening of the same day on Svenska Teatern’s Nicken stage.