Actor Timo Torikka has been looking for ways to break away from the confines of theatre walls

“I’m interested in theatre activities outside cultural institutions. Of course, theatre is successfully made in various institutions, but culture is still institutional and confined by walls in Finland. The walls could be thinner to allow life and society to flow in and vice versa,” Torikka says. 

Torikka has tried different ways of making theatre in new environments. He started by taking a shortened version of the Lehman Brothers play to schools in Espoo together with Jussi Lehtonen and Juha Sääski. According to Torikka, the core of making art is interaction, which was also emphasised in cooperation with students. 

“We had an intense dialogue with the students. I wonder why art like this is so seldom made despite its affordability,” Torikka says.

One of the projects carried out by Torikka during the grant year takes art to the meeting place of all Espoo residents, the library. Torikka describes the library as the cultural institution with the lowest threshold for visitors. The library was once a gateway to art for him.

In early 2023, Espoo libraries will serve as a stage for Torikka’s monologue, which covers a brief history of acting from the 16th century to the present day. 

“With the help of examples, I try to shed light on the way in which acting has developed. I hope that the next time people go to the theatre or watch a TV series, they will look at acting a little differently,” Torikka says.

The ‘Ilta näyttelijän kanssa’ (‘Evening with an actor’) monologue is done as a joint effort between the Espoo City Theatre, Espoo City Library and Torikka.

Torikka’s grant year has also included translating Didier Eribon’s Returning to Reims from French into Finnish. The text is being dramatised to create a theatre performance scheduled for rehearsal in autumn 2023.

Torikka’s experimental work is made possible by the City of Espoo’s annual grant for professional artists, which is awarded to one artist for one year at a time.

Torikka is grateful for the opportunity provided by the grant to stop and think about his work. During the year, he has been able to think about how to make his work more meaningful. The year has taken Torikka outside his comfort zone.

“Breaking your bubbles opens up your thinking and also makes you wonder about the structures of creating art and their safety.”

The ‘Ilta näyttelijän kanssa’ monologue in performed in the Espoo libraries starting from 18th of January. Performed in Finnish, duration about 1 hour. Admission is free. See the show schedules at Helmet.fi(external link, opens in a new window).