As Small Mouth Sounds is set during a silent retreat in the woods, the team took a little excursion into nature to get into the spirit of things.
Although an outdoor rehearsal was initially planned, the weather was a bit too nippy, so the fun was confined to a photoshoot. The director's initial instructions for the shoot included the infamous line: "Mikael – dress warmly, but be prepared to be naked from the waist up. With beads."
The six retreat participants are all set for five days in the woods without smartphones and small talk!
In fact, there had initially been a wild idea to have some performances in the woods – maybe out in the depths of Nuuksio – so the audience could pull up their camping stools, yoga mats or sleeping bags and watch the action unfold while pretending they were also silent participants on the retreat....
But that idea was unfortunately abandoned due to the vagaries of the Finnish weather. You never know what you're going to get in early October: over the past twenty years, we've seen everything from a balmy Indian summer to a couple of centimetres of snow.
So instead, we're inviting you to enjoy the play in the warm and drizzle-free atmosphere of the NoName Theatre. But as theatre audiences are expected to stay silent, you can still pretend you're on the retreat as well.
The Teacher – accompanied by the stage manager and director – all looking characteristically shady in their own way.
Photos: Anni Taponen
Read more about Small Mouth Sounds
Educating Rita by Willy Russell is a charming, funny, surprisingly-profound modern-take on the Pygmalion myth. It is the story of Rita, a young working-class woman in 1980s Liverpool, who decides that she wants to study literature: she doesn’t want to just change channels when the ballet or the opera comes on the telly and say “That’s fuckin’ rubbish”. She takes an extracurricular literature course with Frank, an embittered lecturer, as her tutor. During the course of a year, and the play, they both grow, and grow together, and grow apart. The play was originally a great success with Julie Walters in the lead role, and was made into a movie with her and Michael Caine.
PERFORMANCES at the 
