The Finn-Brit Players

TIME: Sunday 6^th July at 2 pm
PLACE: Tervasaari, Helsinki (Map) (or in case of rain, meet at Kaisla in Kaisaniemi instead)

Join us for poetry (of all kinds) and the usual merriment to honour Finland’s spunkiest poet, Eino Leino. If you wish, you may prepare poetry to recite, or simply allow the muse to move you at will.

For those more inclined towards hitting balls with sticks or throwing stuff, there will be croquet and mölkky on offer. Accompanied by dirty limericks, naturally.

First come, first served bubbly. Bring your own drinks and snacks, and hopefully poems.

That was my answer when asked to describe The Memory of Water in three words for our behind-the-scenes video.

When I first read the script, I felt most drawn to Mary, so I was very pleased to be cast in that role. I feel we share a very similar childhood and young adulthood, and a certain attitude to life. In fact, some of the insults flung at her during the play could have come straight out of my own life!

We are not, however, completely alike. (Luckily – that would just be freaky.) There are another sides to her, her older self in particular, that are not like me at all. Unfortunately, I can’t say any more without including spoilers, so I’ll leave you to decide which ones are which when you see the play.*

So my task was to get into the head of a person who is so much like me and yet so much not... I guess that’s one reason why acting is so challenging yet at the same time so alluring and so much fun.

And it seems that others have also found a lot of truth in this play. When chatting to audience members in the foyer after performances, many people have told me that they were able to identify with aspects of the play in their own lives, especially in the various relationships between the characters.

So, come and see what’s true for you.

The definition of embarrassing: coming in the same dress as your mum.

*For those who have already seen the show: no, not that one :)

Audience Appreciation

Members of the cast, the Directors and all those involved behind the scenes would probably agree that we’ve had really great audiences at our first three performances of “The Memory of Water”.  After each show I’ve heard comments like, “That was the best play I’ve seen in years” or “You people keep getting better and better each time I see you” or “I’m overwhelmed. I laughed a lot but there were tears in my eyes during some parts of the play” or “Great performance! Can’t wait for your next play. Would you consider doing something during the summer?” or “It’s hard to believe that the Finn-Brit Players is an amateur theatre company”

I could tell that the people who said these things weren’t just being polite; these were genuine, heartfelt comments.  You can’t imagine how important this kind of feedback is to us.  Most people don’t realize the countless hours of preparation that go into staging a production like this. But all that effort is somehow made worthwhile when we hear people say, “Hey! You done good”

So hats off to our audiences who have already seen our play and to those who will attend the last three performances on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.