The Main Programme for 2026 has been announced
6.5.2026
This year’s Main Programme features a total of 16 productions, three of which are international guest performances. The Main Programme was selected by the festival artistic team – Hilkka-Liisa Iivanainen and Tanjalotta Räikkä – in collaboration with Executive Director Hanna Rosendahl.
The international productions come from Sweden, Norway, and Estonia. Swedish artist Iggy Malmborg won the hearts of audiences and critics at the 2024 Tampere Theatre Festival with his humor and style. Now he’s back with a brand-new work, accompanied by Gothenburg City Theatre’s Mia Höglund-Melin and Jesper Söderblom. Sortistycken (in English Exit Pieces) will have its premiere in June at the Schauspiel Leipzig residency.
Playwright-actress Kate Pendry also adds an international touch to the festival with her one-woman, one-camera show My Dinner with Putin. Based on a true story and performed to sold-out audiences in Norway, the play zooms in on an actor’s breakthrough moment: Pendry is suddenly offered a part in a Robert De Niro film – directed by an associate of Vladimir Putin. Then the pandemic hits. Next, the war in Ukraine. Oozing with glamour and wit, Pendry delivers a solo act that packs Hollywood drama and dark comedy, revealing the inner circles of power, and the media’s appetite for war. Pendry is an actress and playwright from London, now living and working in Oslo.
In addition, the Estonian Drama Theatre’s popular production Rahamaa (in English Business as Usual) will be performed during the festival week. The 2026 Tampere Theatre Festival marks the first foreign date of this prizewinning audience favorite. It is also one of the festival’s all-time biggest international productions, with more than 50 team members. Following the announcement in February, the performance is already sold out.
The domestic programme features, for example, the Finnish National Theatre’s Muistopäivä, Svenska Teatern’s Förgät mig, Espoo Theatre’s Arakhne, Lahti City Theatre’s Haapajärven Elvis, Kotka City Theatre’s Häiriö maisemassa, and Rovaniemi Theatre’s Vesisaaren Alma.