The 2026 Main Programme lineup is out
13.5.2026
August sees another edition of Scandinavia’s biggest theatre event, as Tampere Theatre Festival once again showcases an amazing selection of domestic and foreign performances. Handpicked with love by the festival’s artistic team of Hilkka-Liisa Iivanainen and Tanjalotta Räikkä with executive director Hanna Rosendahl, this year’s Main Programme features 16 productions, including three from abroad. The 57th Tampere Theatre Festival is scheduled for August 3–9.
International productions from Sweden, Norway, and Estonia – Business as Usual (announced in February) fully booked
Swedish artist Iggy Malmborg charmed the audiences in 2024, and now he’s back in Tampere with a new work. Scheduled to premiere in June at Schauspiel Leipzig Residenz, Sortistycken (Exit Pieces) features Gothenburg City Theatre’s Mia Höglund-Melin and Jesper Söderblom alongside Malmborg.
Another non-Finnish entry is Kate Pendry’s one-woman, one-camera piece My Dinner with Putin, where the actor-playwright is offered a part in a film starring Robert De Niro – and directed by an associate of Vladimir Putin. Then the pandemic hits, followed by the war in Ukraine. Zooming in on an actor’s dream of a final breakthrough, Pendry’s play was a smash hit in Norway, where the London-born artist currently lives.
Estonian Drama Theatre presents Business as Usual, one of the all-time biggest international productions at Tampere Theatre Festival. Written by Mehis Pihla and directed by Hendrik Toompere Jr., the play deals with a global money laundering scandal. Announced in February, the festival performance is already fully booked.
Finnish originals and takes on classics
The Main Programme’s domestic lineup includes the Finnish National Theatre, Svenska Teatern, & Espoo Theatre, Lahti City Theatre, Kotka City Theatre, and Rovaniemi Theatre, as well as smaller companies, such as Teatteri Siperia with a 20th anniversary production, and the Red Nose Company with the Meta4 string quartet. The festival also features various creative teams and artistic thesis pieces.
The widely praised The Day of Remembrance, a National Theatre production written by Elli Salo and directed by Riikka Oksanen, tells the story of people who defected from Finland to the Soviet Union in the 1930s and disappeared during Stalin’s purges.
Svenska Teatern presents Forget Me, a play written and directed by Milja Sarkola. & Espoo Theatre combines weaving with professional wrestling and spiders in Sinna Virtanen’s Arachne.
Lahti City Theatre’s Jailhouse Rock, directed by Lauri Maijala, is a reality-based story about an act that became part of Finnish crime history – and about music that can save an entire life. The play is an adaptation of Katariina Vuori’s book Erään tapon tarina.
A Disturbance in the Landscape (orig. Häiriö maisemassa), starring Pirjo Lankinen, is a Kotka City Theatre production directed by Inke Dahl and based on the eponymous novel by Raija Siekkinen.
Alma of Vesisaari, written by Taija Helminen, focuses on the mother of Lapland artist Reidar Särestöniemi. A co-production between Rovaniemi Theatre and Piste Collective, this theatre-circus hybrid is directed by Riku Innamaa, with circus devising by Henna Kaikula.
Director-dramatist Mikko Roiha takes us to Torne Valley and the Lapland War in The River. Based on Rosa Liksom’s novel, this monologue piece is performed by Ella Mettänen, a recent recipient of an Olavi Veistäjä award, and it is co-produced by Vapaa Teatteri, Teatteri Jurkka, Lahti City Theatre, and the TTT-Theatre.
Hanna Raiskinmäki lights up the stage in AntiG, a spin on the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles. Co-produced by the creative team and Takomo Theatre, the play is directed and dramatized by Pauliina Hulkko.
Another creative team production, the acclaimed Cowboy försvunnen by playwright Otto Sandqvist, deals with mania, depression, alienation, and a shared experience of loneliness.
In collaboration with Tampere Hall, the festival presents Voces, a performance by the Red Nose Company duo Timo Ruuskanen & Tuukka Vasama and the Meta4 string quartet. Combining theatre with classical music, the piece builds around Jean Sibelius’s string quartet Voces intimae.
Tampere’s own Teatteri Siperia marks its 20-year milestone with a production of Endgame, a Samuel Beckett classic. This suspenseful adaptation stars Pekka Heikkinen and Bakr Hasan, and is directed by Heikki Huttu-Hiltunen.
Alise Polacenko, a graduating director from Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy, takes on a classic as well. Her thesis piece, produced in collaboration with Q-teatteri, is an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters. The Main Programme also features another thesis piece, Asko ”aamo!” Halonen’s medium rare, created at Tampere University’s theatre arts program, Näty.
The music-filled lineup of TelttaLab is also out.
The festival includes street theatre and circus with free admission, such as performances by Circus Simon. The full schedule of street shows and additional programming will be announced during the summer.
Festival tickets are sold at Lippu.fi and the Tampere Theatre Festival ticket office located at the Finlayson Area.
Media photos (please include photographer credits)
Business as Usual photos (please include photographer credits)
More details on the Main Programme can be found here.
Additional information:
Hanna Rosendahl, Executive Director, +358 40 594 4600
Tiina Hurskainen, Head of PR and Marketing, +358 40 865 5852, tiina.hurskainen(at)teatterikesa.fi
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Tampere Theatre Festival, the biggest and longest-running theatre festival in Scandinavia, showcases the most exciting Finnish productions and works by cutting-edge international artists. The week-long event is held annually in early August.