It’s warm and sunny in Helsinki. The birches have small leaves, and the lawns are astonishingly green for the season. People have abandoned their dull winter wrappings for brighter summer dresses. The café terraces by the Esplanade Park near Helsinki’s famous market place are full of people enjoying the sunshine, sipping coffee, soft drinks or beer. From my window I can hear a band playing jazz in the park. The sudden arrival of spring seems to make Scandinavians crazy. People behave like calves let out in the bright sunshine after several months in the dark. It’s nice to see smiling and chatting Finns for a change.
On the cultural side we have been able to enjoy two fantastic events at the “Svenska Teatern” the main stage for the Swedish speaking minority of Finland. The theatre has started an exchange project with Dramaten in Stockholm in a campaign called “Svenska Teatern goes Dramaten”. Sweden’s national theatre Dramaten, or the Royal Dramatic Theatre was founded in 1788 by King Gustaf III. The building at Nybroplan in Stockholm has been the theatre’s home since 1908. They have a youth theatre group called Unga Dramaten, who visited Helsinki in May with the play “Rövare” (Die Räuber), a modern version of German playwright Friedrich Schiller’s masterpiece, premiered in 1782 in Mannheim, Germany. The version I saw at the Svenska Teatern in Helsinki was a modernized version of Schiller’s “Sturm und Drang” (”Storm and Stress”) work. The play is just as real in our days at it was more than 200 years ago; questioning dividing lines between personal liberty and the law and probing the psychology of power. The performance was brilliant, with outstanding actors. Next fall Svenska Teatern will be performing in Stockholm.
The other event at Svenska Teatern was less serious, a stand-up comic competition between Sweden and Finland. Two famous stand-up comedians from both countries competed. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much. The competition was quite even, but finally the Swedish team won. The Swedes have always been better comedians than the Finns, it has to be admitted. But it was great fun.
Talking of competitions, this year’s Eurovision song contest was a bit controversial for Finland. Krista Sigfrieds did a brilliant show, considering that the song itself “Marry me” was mediocre. But she finished her performance by giving a girl-to-girl kiss to one of her choir girls. This was obviously too much for Europe, since she finished in 24th place with only 13 votes. Obviously Europe was not ready for this kind of demonstration, although many European countries approve gay marriages. The whole song contest has been much criticized lately, not only because neighbour countries seem to vote for each other. Allegedly, some countries have been paying people to vote for them in the final, giving a number of sim cards and phones each to the “voters” asking them to vote as many times as possible in the 15 minute window. After the 15 minutes a group manager then checks the number of votes sent for the country. The system of public voting has always been unfair and difficult to control. Perhaps a professional jury would be the only possible solution. The organizers say that they “are looking into the matter”. They’d should do.
Last but not least. This year’s Ice hockey World Championship was won by Sweden. The victory was celebrated with a visit to the Royal Palace in Stockholm, where little princess Estelle congratulated the team, dressed in the Swedish team shirt. Congratulations from “little brother” Finland, who was fourth.