Program 2022

Taina Mäki-Iso (Fi)
Piilossa (Hiding) – Clowning performance for young children
Sat 14.5. 12.30 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Hurjaruuth stage

Duration approx. 30 min.
Nonverbal (imaginary language).
Age recommendation: 2+.

Cuckoo? Who is hiding, who is peeking from the hideaway? Hiding is a participatory performance where the audience plays and explores the game of hide and seek with Tyyppä the clown in a surprising and multisensory “nest hole”. The performance is mainly non-verbal but includes plenty of direct interaction with the audience and improvisation, both typical of clowning.

Experienced master of clownery Taina Mäki-Iso performs Tyyppä and scenographer Heini Granberg is in charge of the set and the costumes. They have created the performance Hiding together.

Tickets:

16 € basic ticket (children, adults, pensioners, theatre professionals)
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Keinänen-Ruuskanen-Rantanen-Terävä (Fi)
Internationale Atk Show
Sat 14.5. at 4 p.m. Hurjaruuth stage
Tue 17.5. at 5.30 p.m. at Hurjaruuth foyer and Cable Factory’s Glass Courtyard

Duration approx. Sat 40 min/Tue 55 min.
International pseudo language.
To all ages.

They pressed Enter …

Four digitized clowns perform their absurd and tragicomic adventure in the swirl of bits and bytes. Physical comedy and close calls. Performance for all those who are being used by a computer.

On Sat 14.5. performance at Hurjaruuth stage and on Tue 17.5. at Cable Factory’s Glass Courtyard. Tuesday performance begins in Hurjaruuth foyer and continues from there to Glass Courtyard.

Performed by Johanna Keinänen, Tuovi Rantanen, Liisa Ruuskanen and Hanna Terävä
Costumes by Mirkka Nyrhinen
Sound/composer Petri Tiainen

Tickets:
16 € basic ticket
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Pouk Personne (Fra)
Chair à Poème
Tue 17.5. at 7 p.m. and Wed 18.5. 8.30 p.m.
Hurjaruuth stage

Duration approx. 60 min.
In French / subtitles in English.
Age recommendation: 12+.

Chair à Poème – Poem Flesh. It is the story of a clown who believes she is a poem. A strange trickster who will undress herself and peel the verses to create a link between you and her.

Pouk Personne was born in 2015 from a CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque) clown course and artist Barbara Gay’s many years of research on Clown arts. All this work finally incarnates itself into a definite form. A figure, a voice, a gait: the creature is here!

She first wanders the world of circus with in situ creations and ephemeral cabarets alongside Galapiat Cirque. She comes up with her name in 2016 and becomes Pouk Personne, as part of this Chair à Poème solo.

Note: Audience discussion in Hurjaruuth’s Festival-Bar Fri 20.5. 8 p.m. Discussion with Barbara Gayn is led by Taina Mäki-Iso. Free entry, welcome!

Tickets:

26 € basic ticket for adults
16 € students, pensioners, unemployed, draftee/non-military service, theatre professionals
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Jennifer Miller (USA)
Cirque Liminal

PERFORMANCES CANCELLED.

Duration approx. 40–60 min
In English.
Age recommendation: Adults

Cirque Liminal -premiere at Hurjaruuth stage!

A clown piece about the in-between. A Circus of existential effort bathed in stolen bits, madcap juggling, flights of fancy, falling up and getting down.

Jennifer Miller is the director and founder of Circus Amok – a one ring, no animal, queer as fuck, free circus extravaganza that has been touring the parks of New York annually since 1994. Besides touring solo shows internationally she works with a myriad of choreographers and performance artists. She is the recipient of an OBIE and a “Bessie” awards. Miller had a 10 year stint at Coney Island Sideshow by the Seashore. Now she is a Professor of Performance at Pratt Institute.

Tickets:

26 € adults
16 € students, pensioners, unemployed, draftee/non-military service, theatre professionals
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Julia Masli (EE/GB)
CHOOSH! 
Thu 19.5. 6 p.m. and Fri 20.5. 6 p.m.
Hurjaruuth stage

Duration approx. 60 min.
In English.
Age recommendation: 12+.

In this absurd homage to migration, a hungry clown from an Eastern European village voyages to America for a hot dog.

‘Choosh’ means ‘bullshit’. The delightful nonsensical silly bullshit and the other types of bullshit…

From the winner of The Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality.

‘a mesmeric performer’ ★★★★ The Scotsman

‘left the audience in stitches’ ★★★★ The Skinny

‘a chance to lose yourself’ ★★★★ The List

‘something quite special’ The Telegraph

‘Absurdity at its finest’ Chortle

Brought to you by Julia Masli – an Estonian born, London based clown of mixed Eastern European, Baltic & Balkan origins. Developed with Annie Siddons.

Note: Audience discussion in Hurjaruuth’s Festival-Bar Thu 19.5. approx. 7.05 p.m. Discussion with Julia Maslin is led by Taina Mäki-Iso. Free entry, welcome!

Tickets:

26 € basic ticket for adults
16 € students, pensioners, unemployed, draftee/non-military service, theatre professionals
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Aba Naia -collective (DE/BRA/FI)
We can do it moaning
Fri 20.5. 9 p.m
Hurjaruuth stage

Duration 65 min.
In English.
Age recommendation: Adults

Pioneering female post porn clowning performance at Red Pearl Festival!

The female collective ABA NAIA from Berlin presents WE CAN DO IT MOANING: A lecture performance about copulatory vocalization that transforms into an acoustic experience of pleasure.

Do you want to know what lies behind the anatomy of our mouths?

ABA NAIA transforms sounds into spoken language. With the foundation of human voices they build their rebellion against patriarchy. It gets dirty. It gets messy. It gets hilarious. It gets awkward. It gets physical. It gets sexual. It stays complicated. You get invited to a dialogue between science, and a post porn soundscape when the seductive power of female tones take over and make things move.

Performed by Kysy Fischer, Rafuska Marks and Teija Vaittinen
Directed by Kysy Fischer
Dramaturgy by Jaika Bahr
Lighting, Sound and Video Design by Emilio Cordero Checa
Stage Technician/Performer Erik Pade
Photo Credits Mari Vass

Note: Audience discussion in Hurjaruuth’s Festival-Bar Fri 20.5. approx. 10.15 p.m. Discussion with Aba naia -Collective is led by Taina Mäki-Iso. Free entry, welcome!

The Finnish Institute in Germany has awarded TelepART Mobility Support to this visit.

Tickets:

26 € basic ticket for adults
16 € students, pensioners, unemployed, draftee/non-military service, theatre professionals
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Clown soirée
Sat 21.5. 8 p.m.
Hurjaruuth stage
or online live-stream

Duration approx. 2 hours with an intermission.
In Finnish, English, French, wordless!

An unforgettable evening with international and Finnish clowns! On stage Henna Hakkarainen, Johanna Keinänen, Jenni Kivelä, Helena Leminen, Kaisa Niemi, Barbara Gay, Hanna Terävä and Hanne Vartiainen. Host Minna Puolanto.

e.g. Pouk Personne, Johanna Keinänen, Kaisa Niemi, Hanna Terävä and Henna Hakkarainen.

Please note that it’s also possible to enjoy this event online!

Tickets:

26 € basic ticket for adults
16 € students, pensioners, unemployed, draftee/non-military service, theatre professionals
12 € Clown soirée ONLINE live-stream
Serial ticket: If you buy a basic-price ticket for 3-7 performances, you will get a 20 % discount.

Feminist Clown Festival since 2012

Most clowns have traditionally been male, but this festival serves as a reminder that first-class clowns of other genders can be found in the Nordic countries and all over the world.

First time in February 2012 organized “Red Pearl Woman Clown Festival” brought world-renowned clowns to Finland and Sweden. Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth, Helsinki, Espoo City Theatre and Regina Theatre from Uppsala jointly produced the festival, which presented acts from Brazil, England, Austria, Sweden and Finland.

Over the years many top-class clowns have been performing in Red Pearl, among them e.g. Pepa Plana, Nola Rae, Deanna Fleysher, Tanja Simma, Stacey Sacks, Marta Carbayo, Angela de Castro, Gardi Hutter, Colette Gomette…

Women clown festivals are organized worldwide, e.g. in Brazil, Spain and Austria.

In 2021 Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth changes the name of the festival to Red Pearl Clown Festival. Not because gender equality would have been reached globally, but in order to better take the diversity of genders into account. The festival will continue focusing on women and clowns from diverse genders.