Cancellation of Tampere Theatre Festival 2020: Due to the situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the board of directors has been obliged to take decision on the cancellation of this year’s festival. The next edition of the Tampere Theatre Festival is scheduled for 2 – 8 August 2021.

This spring the world’s focus has been on everybody’s well-being and the right to life. Even in these uncertain times, there still remains a need for living, caring and breathing theatre. This need raises many relevant questions about the value and meaning of art and its crucial role in our society.

We are proud of this year’s theatrical productions. The 2020 Tampere Theatre Festival lineup was assembled upon two thematic cornerstones: the rejuvenating force of imagination and the need for redemption. We wish to honor the work of all the wise, critical and alternative-seeking theatremakers and creative teams. Therefore we gratefully present the names of the domestic selections which were scheduled for this August. We are currently looking into the possibility of rescheduling this year’s international selections for the 2021 festival.

Inspired by the words of poet Adrienne Rich, we hope that imagination has the power ”to transcend and transform experience” and ”to question, to challenge, to conceive of alternatives, perhaps to the very life you are living at the moment.”

29 April 2020

Hilkka-Liisa Iivanainen, Aleksis Meaney and Tanjalotta Räikkä  
Members of the artistic team 
Hanna Rosendahl
Executive director