Keep on searching for a heart of gold in Berlin

I spent again some three weeks in Berlin. This was a final phase for bigNOTWENDIGKEIT's (BN) project revolving around Medea by Euripides.

It was really nice to work again with Anna and Katharina, the director-duo of BN, and Anna-Katharina and Esther, two actresses whom I also worked with before. I also made some new friends with this project; Sahar, a very nice actress bubbling with positive energy, and Wolfram; a real priceless go-doer in bringing the set elements to life. All in all it was very rewarding to work with this ensemble, somehow we hit it off pretty well. I'm looking forward to take the production to Zürich next month with them.

The approach to this classic text was very controversial. The main goal was not to present the story as such, but perhaps more to look into and study what Medea means or could represent to us and today's society. And the outcome was something more or less new. Like Stefan Rusconi, a jazz-musicial and cultural advisor, says in his cultural tips in "Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg"-tv:
"Es ist Dialog. Es ist Pop. Es ist Pantomime. Es hat Geschwindigkeit, aber auch Ruhe und das ist ein interessantes Potpourri. Ich denke das ist ein sehr sehenswertes Stück." (yeah, we made it to the telly=)

We performed on three evenings on the Hochzeitsaal in Sophiensaele and the audience was sort of plenty and quite appreciated our interpretation. All I heard afterwards was pretty positive. That's cool, since also I liked how it turned out to be. I'm quite happy about how my Medea looks at times very intimate, warm and golden, in contrast to all the horrible things they say about killing, hatred and revenge. And from the other angle, it opens up and shows all the building blocks and intestines of the production down to very last detail. - I'll post some photos later on for you to see.

Sophiensaele was a straightforward no-BS place to work and our designated technician Nicolina very nice. Technically the biggest downfall was the light console, the old war-horse MA Lightcommander 24, who had seriously seen better days, but in the end I managed to surpass the potholes of it's failing mechanics. To live is to learn, even if it's to trick the machine =)

If you missed us this time around, there will be chance to check our adaptation out in May in Fabrik Theater in Zürich (more info here). And in the end of June we'll be back in Berlin again, on stage at Theaterdiscounter on the last weekend of the month. Come to have a look if you're around!

I had also a chance to meet some friends in Berlin, which is always great. This was first time that sound designer and musician Niki Neecke participated in BN production. Niki is my old friend from Mnemopark era, so it was cool to collaborate with him again (and also to have a chance to crash on his couch fo the duration, thanx!). And once more, there was my dear friend Julia, with whom I overdosed on sushi couple of times. I also had a chance to attend to this great party thrown by a cool director Stefan Kaegi (the director of Mnemopark), where I made some new friends and met couple of ones that I hadn't seen in longest time.

It's funny how Berlin starts to feel somehow like home by now. I definately don't feel like tourist there anymore, no any kind of feeling of being compelled to run to see the Brandenburg gate or such. And I guess that I know more people in Berlin by now, than I do in Helsinki or Basel. I could definately picture myself living there. Why not...

So, Berlin, I'm glad that I visited and I'm always willing to come back to your groove! Though next time you could provide a bit better weather and exit 8-D! (Exit meaning the minor 5 hours delay with Easyjet on not so groovy Schönenfeld airport.)

Picture parade from Antwerp 21.-27.4.08

Our Mnemopark-tour took us this time back to Belgium again. It was, as the previous visit to Brussels also, very nice experience. Performances went without any fuss and people were professional and friendly.

I found Antwerp to be very cosy town and I enjoyed strolling along the streets. Some very cool architecture and interesting fleamarkets! Here is a collection of phenomena I saw.

Stripy houses somewhere near downtown.

Fleamarket on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Some Par-cans on sale, among various other things.

Can I take this as a piece of hand-luggage on the plane?

Very elaborate and cool graffitis on a narrow side-alley wall.

Masterpiece of carrot-art on my plate in a chinese restaurant.

Would this be awesome address to live in?

This says something like

"Smoking is strictly prohibited in the near proximity of the tank.

Material can combust spontaneously"

-Nothing funny in such, except for the fact that it was placed next to the men's pisoar.

Stretched Hummer-limo in front of the hotel.

Some treats for my Finnish-speaking readers:

Että kuinka? Yksi henkilö paskamerta kohden?

Vai olisiko se sittenkin sovituskoppi?

Hmm... Keneltä? Mitä?

Thessaloniki, Greece 7.-11.4.08

I was bit nervous to go the Greece. I had practically no information about the Moni Lazariston Theatre we were supposed to perform. When we finally got there, theatre turned out to be quite nice facility built by germans in 90's.

We had just one performance there on this "12th Europe Theater Prize"-festival, but there surely was lots of work to set it up. When we started the work I was handed a piece of paper showing all the lamps available in the theatre. Since there was to be another play just a day after our performance, I was told I can use all the lamps that are not circled on the paper. Not so easy, since there was probably three of those on stage and few front lights from mile away, hmm. Some serious improvisation was required... The working methods in Greece seem also to be somewhat different from what I've used to, so it took a long time to accomplish all the necessary things. And especially after Japan that was a real bite of reality.

In the end I managed to pull everything somehow together and the performance was a good one, can't deny that. But in the future I would rather reserve Greece as a holiday destination =).

There was some cool experiences and people during our stay too. There was this Swiss tv-director with two-man Greek crew to shoot a documentary of Mnemopark. The sound-guy was local from Thessaloniki and he invited our people to dinner at his friend's restaurant, which was really nice experience. We had various samples of the best of "Greek Cuisine" and not-so-reasonable amount of Tsipouro, strong pomace brandy. Very nice evening indeed, thanks to this very well connected cool person and his friends. This was one of the best things to encounter in Thessaloniki, the other being the very nice translators, students from local drama school.

Also the hotel Les Lazaristes just next door to the theater was a real fancy one, so no difficulties in accommodation.

I didn't have much of a chance to check out Thessaloniki as a travel destination, since our stay was very brief and work-filled. But it seems like a place with multiple possibilities. I also forgot my camera back home, so no pictures this time, not that there would have been any time to take them either =)

Japan 7.-18.3.08

I don't know where to begin... This was my first visit to the land of the rising sun and it was absolutely pleasant over all! We performed with Mnemopark in Kawasaki and Tokyo. I always had the idea that Japan is well organized and efficient society, but the truth of it managed nonetheless surprise me. It has never been so easy! And big thanks for this goes to the very professional and nice staff of Tokyo International Arts Festival.

Very first glimpse of Tokyo on the day of our arrival.

Surroundings in Japan were very comfortable and even the weather was our friend most of the time. The spring was just arriving and plum-trees starting to bloom. For cherry-trees we were couple of weeks early, but the blossoms were very pretty anyway.

Plum or cherry, who cares, pretty!!

Kawasaki in the setting sun.

But there was some hardships to confront also. During the transport from Germany to Japan, one of our cases had collapsed with quite earthshaking results in the scale of 1:87. Some modules were almost completely squeezed flat. Such a tragedy, since building those things contains hundreds of hours of work and enormous amount of love and passion. Luckily it was possible to somewhat patch things up with glue. Insurance claim follows...

Sad sight.

Performing in Japan was curious experience also language-ways. It's rare in Europe that you work in a community of which language you don't understand one word. And working in Japan went smoothly despite the occasional lack of words, no question about that, but it's just amusing and amazing to see how the familiar stuff translates to Japanese kanjus. I took loads of picture of the show just because of the cool subtitling.

Familiar stuff with a new approach.

I really appreciated and liked working in Japan. Locals took such a good care of us, even after working hours. I met some really cool persons and I'm really hoping for a chance to see them again in the future. My translator, Sonoko, was more than worth her weight in gold, also because of all the additional information she told me about the society and ways of living in Japan. I really wish we can to the Ghibli Museum the next time I get to go to Tokyo!!

I feel also privileged having had the chance to meet the head lighting technician, Makiko, who is very clever person with very efficient ways of solving all the problems that might show up. I can warmly recommend her and all the crew from Factor company that were helping us out!

Sonoko, me and Makiko.

Me and the Factor crew and the Alps.

There was some time for leisure activities also, especially in latter part of our stay, in Tokyo. Locals took us to some very nice restaurants to sample some Japanese specialities,of which I was more than happy about, since I just absolutely love Japanese kitchen.

Maria in Fry-it-yourself restaurant in Kawasaki.

Not all the food loooked so yummy,

but taste was good anyhow. This is a fish roe omelet =)

We also visited some of Tokyo's landmarks. The truth is though, that tokyo is so huge place that we only got a little sample of all it could offer. -Like our director Stefan put it - Tokyo in a scale of 1:87. Below collection of pic's of that.

Room with a view:

Sight from our 32th floor hotel room

in Sunshine City Prince Hotel.

Big spider sculpture at Roppongi Hills.

Streetscape in Ikebukuro district.

As the photo says, Sunshine City, Ikebukuro.

Harajuku in the morning.

Hellooooooooooo Kitty in Kiddyland toystore!

Some pop fashion in Harajuku.

We also tried the very Japanese thing, karaoke, of course. Our translators took us to this place called "Little Tokyo", where you can rent a booth for couple of hours. In this room you have wholly digitalized karaoke-system and you can order food and drinks too. In this way Japanese way of doing karaoke differs from Finnish one, which is quite familiar to me. In Finland you can only do karaoke publicly in pubs or bars, where everybody hears your best effort. In Japan you can sing your heart out in bit more private way, only your friends hear you.

Rahel and translator Maki's duet.

- Maki speaks fluent Swiss German, by the way =) =)

All in all, I would love to go back to Japan anytime, no question about that! Next time I will try to catch the cherry blossoms and Ghibli among other things. There is so much cool and also peculiar stuff to explore, that one could easily spend two years instead of two weeks in there.

Otskame sama desta all my new friends!

Last but not the least: one of the peculiarities....

(click to enlarge)

Bruxelles 25.2-1.3.08

I've been to Brussel before, but this time it showed totally different face than before. We were performing with Mnemopark at Halles de Schaerbeek, in turkish district of the city. Only couple of kilometres north from the place I visited last time, but worlds apart in atmosphere and surroundings. Turkish region seems to be sympathetic, and working in the "halles" was very smooth, too. Pleasant experience alltogether. The staff was very professional and extremely friendly.

So, since it felt almost like a vacation for me, I'll post some pictures here along those lines.

Market on Rue Royale Sainte Marie on Friday morning.

Colorful fabrics 2€ / meter.

Botanical garden.

Some charasterictics that remind me of Narnia

-without winter.

In Brussel it was pleasant app. +10 degrees and occasionally it felt very "springly" there. Allthough the weather wasn't the best possible, mostly bit gray, there was definately some clear signs of spring arriving. All the small colorful flowers blooming in the garden made me feel happy.

A weird one...

Some views of the downtown:

Entrance of the theatre "Toome".

Restaurant district near Grand Place.

- delicious sea food.

The official and mandatory "tourist snap-shot".

And finally, on the last day, the sky was

incredibly blue and the city seemed so pretty.

And then back to the reality:

Helsinki-Vantaa airport,

1.3.2008, 23:10,

+1'C, wind 23 meters / sec

Note to all my readers!

It has occurred lately, that I should remind all my dear readers of something:

This site is my personal internet diary, which DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY OFFICIAL STATEMENTS or opinions of the companies (herStay, Rimini Protokoll, Raatikko etc.) I work with.

The one and only purpose of these writings is to share some of my thoughts, ideas and experiences with my friends, whom I see too rarely.

I apologise any unconvinience and/or misunderstandings I might have caused by keeping this blog.

Sincerely,
Minna

Nantes 21.-26.1.2008

Sadly, I had to leave the sunny South-east Asia way too soon. We had yet another Mnemopark-gig in western France, Nantes. I hopped on a plane in Bangkok and some 23 hours later I was in Nantes. Phooh.... Unbelievable difference.

6.00am. Can't sleep. Where are the sunny high skies, all the luminosity...?

We performed on the stage of "Le Lieu Unique", a theatre that used to be bisquit factory of world famous LU. Interior is still very unusual and characteristic.

Le Tour of Lieu Unique.

Details of the stage.

Couple of the first days in Nantes passed in somesort of haze for me. It wasn't so much because of the possible jet-lag, but more because of the pure tiredness after Asia experience. But finally, there was some sun in Nantes too.

Views of the city.

Me and Mitch.

Installations on the exterior of a museum of machanical elephant. This is supposed to be one of the attractions of Nantes, but it was closed this time we were there.

Late dinner at Taverne d'Maitré Kanter. Anna, Rahel and Niki.

Atmospheric snapshot...

Sunset at the Charles de Gaulle airport on the homebound journey.