Performing identity and politics: two productions of ‘The Unknown Soldier’ – 19th November

Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre is delighted to present a lecture by Professor Hanna Korsberg, University of Helsinki, on Thursday 19 November, 4-5.00pm, in G10, 43 Gordon Square. We look forward to seeing you there.

Performing identity and politics: two productions of ‘The Unknown Soldier’

Hanna will discuss how performances participate in discussing identity and politics. My case study will look at two recent performances: director Kristian Smeds’s production at the Finnish National Theatre in 2007–2009 and Juhana von Bagh’s and Jussi Moila’s radio play The Unknown Soldier – A dialogue with Väinö Linna broadcasted on the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE Radio 1 in 2014.

The productions were based, at least partly, on a very well-known novel by author Väinö Linna published in 1954, discussing the Continuation War 1941–1944 between Finland and the Soviet Union. The productions engaged with social and political reality by challenging the cultural memory of war. An exceptional feature of the productions was intermediality as they moved between art forms: novel, stage production, radio play, film, television and documentary material.

Bio:

Hanna is Professor of Theatre Research at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include the relationship between theatre and politics in Finland, a topic which she has studied in two monographs. She is also the author of several articles discussing theatre history, historiography and performance analysis.

Hanna has been an active member of the IFTR Historiography Working Group since 2001, an executive committee member in 2007–2015 and a vice president 2015–2019. She has been member of the advisory boards in Contemporary Theatre Review and Nordic Theatre Studies. Also, Hanna is a member of the Teachers’ Academy at the University of Helsinki.

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