Privacy is a play written by Meritta Koivisto in 2002. It was performed for the first time as a stage reading on 7 March 2015 in front of an enthusiastic audience at the FINNBRIT premises on Fredrikinkatu in Helsinki. Some audience members commented after the performance that the Finn-Brit Players should consider performing the play as a full production.

The March 7 performance was truly an artistic success and all available seats were sold. Congratulations to the playwright and director, Meritta Koivisto, who was the guiding light behind the production and inspired the actors to reach new heights. Special thanks also go to Timo Karppinen who recorded the entire production on video, Tiina Isoviita who spent several late-night hours designing the programme, Vello Ruus for his invaluable advice and support on production issues, Kikka Myllys and Jessica Calonius who served as front-of-house hosts, Graham Lees who was responsible for lighting and sound operation, Eila Leonoff for her work on set design and props, and Pirjo Jyrälä who was responsible for sound effects and audio sequencing. All of us are grateful to the audience members who were so appreciative of our efforts.

Privacy by Meritta Koivisto

A famous author’s extreme protection of his private life turns against him in a horrifying way. When a hometown acquaintance from youth, Lorraine Gray, unexpectedly visits Paul J. Bauer and his wife Maude in their Hollywood Hills mansion, the consequences are unpredictable yet inevitable. Lorraine’s portrait shows the fragility of morality, the destruction caused by a manipulating mind, and the depth of darkness it can reach.

MERITTA KOIVISTO is an internationally award-winning writer and director. Her film Wrestling With A Bee won the Main Prize at the International Short Film Festival Winterthur in Switzerland, and her American play Privacy has been recognized at the New Century Writers Awards in the US. Koivisto has also lectured on creative writing at Columbia University in New York. Currently, she is writing her third novel and a collection of short stories. 

Some photos from the March 7 performance – click on the thumbnails for the full images and captions.

The Finn-Brit Players and Passport Theatre Company are very pleased to announce their decision to work together on a Helsinki production of the Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl. Auditions will be held in June 2016 and performances are currently scheduled for September.

The Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl is a strange play that sits somewhere between farce and comedy, between poetry and magical realism, between a barber’s shop drama and theatre of the absurd.

Tilly is melancholy. She is depressed and longing, alluring and unashamed. As a theatre critic wrote, “She makes her unhappiness into this sexy thing.” Tilly’s therapist, Lorenzo, wants her to take pills, but instead falls madly in love with her. In fact, it seems that every one Tilly meets falls madly in love with her melancholy. Frank, her tailor, hems her trousers, which leads to romance. Frances, her hairdresser, and Joan, Frances’ lesbian partner, also become infatuated. Everyone feasts off her melancholy and falls in love with her – until she becomes happy herself.

That happiness throws the world out of whack: everyone else is experiencing turmoil in their lives. Now it is they who are unhappy: Frances becomes so melancholy that she turns into an almond. The streets are full of them – of almonds that used to be people.  With Frances’ very existence in question, Tilly, Lorenzo, Joan and Frank must go and find Frank’s long-lost twin sister Frances. But how does one become so melancholy that they turn into an inanimate object? What will happen when Tilly and her friends travel to the almond state?

To find the answer, we hope you will join us in 2016 either as part of the cast and crew or as an audience member.

The Finn-Brit Players is a Helsinki-based amateur drama society whose origins date back to the early 1950s. Since becoming active again in 1981, the Players have staged over sixty productions including musicals, murder mysteries, classics, comedies, Shakespeare, children’s entertainment and drama.

The Passport Theatre company is a new equity-waiver theatre group, based in Easthampton, MA. Passport brings new plays to both Western Massachusetts and Finland, performing original works alternately in both countries. The company’s inaugural production was the Ryhmäteatteri version of Gogol’s The Overcoat, performed in Turners Falls in 2012.