Smeds Ensemble (Finland)
MENTAL FINLAND

Date: October 16th, 2009
Venue: Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, Gedimino Av. 4 (Main Stage)
Duration: 2 h 30 m (no interval)

Author and director: Kristian Smeds (Finland)
Choreographer: Ari Numminen (Finland)
Designer of video projections: Ville Hyvönen (Finland)
Dramaturgist: Ivo Kuyl (Belgium)
Scenographer and costume designer: Jūratė Paulėkaitė (Lithuania)
Designer of lights: Gérard Maraite (Belgium)

Actors: Juhan Ulfsak, Kalle Holmberg, Eva Klemets, Tarja Heinula, Tommi Korpela, H-P Björkman, Janne Reinikainen
Dancers: Milla Koistinen, Domenico Giustino, Stefan Baier, Eleonore Valere, Ana Cristina Velasquez, Milton Paulo, Laura Lee Kamppila

Co-producers: Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg (KVS), Smeds Ensemble, Helsinki National Theatre, Linz – European Capital of Culture 2009, Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009.

The year is 2069. EU troops occupy the whole of Europe. They ensure that no one is guilty of national customs or traditions. However, there is one nation who puts up resistance: the Finnish. They live in a ship’s container that has everything they need: reindeers, a sauna, karaoke, alcohol… The story begins when the European troops learn of the existence of the container.

This is the artistic vision of Kristian Smeds is created with the assistance of Jūratė Paulėkaitė – the recognized scenographer from Lithuania – and an international group of actors, dancers and musicians. This critical project elaborates on thoughts and expectations of residents of the contemporary EU. The play accentuates changes affecting both, issues of the European and of the national identity. The project will involve the most outstanding institutions of culture and famous artists from Finland, Belgium, Austria and Lithuania. This international project of high artistic quality is aimed at establishing a permanent dialogue and cooperation between artists representing a multifaceted cultural foundation of Europe.

Mental Finland is a cutting/gashing/slashing black comedy of the mental state of a small, northern welfare state, simultaneously reflecting the conditions overall in the modern-Europe. Armed with a good dose of surrealism and black humour, the Finnish director Kristian Smeds, asks himself how real or imaginary this globalised reality is and what it shuts out and conceals.

Kristian Smeds, probably the best known theater director in Finland, joggles virtuously with different sentiments. Armed with absurd humour and surrealistic visions, he asks: is the reality in the end real or is it only imagination, adults’ play?