THE GOSPEL OF CHRISTMAS
/ Jouluevankeliumi

English / Finnish

A theatre work by Teemu Mäki & Koivuryhmä.

THE GOSPEL OF CHRISTMAS / JOULUEVANKELIUMI
7.12.2018 – 16.12.2018

Jesus Christ and Santa Claus meet for the first time. A theatre piece on themes of Christmas. Consists of music, text, drama theatre, dance, images and films. An update of the Christmas oratorio tradition.

Fri. 7.12. at 18, Sun. 9.12. at 14, Wed. 12.12. at 18, Fri. 14.12. at 18, Sat. 15.12. at 14, Sun. 16.12. at 14.

Tickets 15/12 €
Language: Finnish, with English surtitles
Duration: 2h 45min. (with intermission)

https://kiasma.fi/en/performances-events/koivuryhma-jouluevankeliumi/


What would Jesus tell us if he popped up in the midst of us today? What is the original message of Christmas and how should it be understood today? Which of our sins we wish to be liberated from by somebody else’s sacrifices? Is there a point in dreaming of everlasting life or should one accept the human mortality? And what is the consumer society’s relation to Christmas? What else could Christmas be than the most significant annual sales season, in which the employment and trade of a nation are being dependent on? What would be a Marxist Christmas? Or post-humanistic and ecological Christmas?

THE GOSPEL OF CHRISTMAS is Koivuryhmä's celebration of Christmas. It's a combination of documentary film, drama theatre, dance and live music.

We wanted to make this theatre piece, because Christmas is so essential to our culture, one one hand as the celebration of love and on the other hand as the climax of consumerism. Another reason for making this work is the fact that I'm a fan of Jesus. I also love many Jesus-related works of art. One of them is Olivier Messiaen's composition for solo piano called Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus / Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus (1944). Most of the music in our performance comes from that series.

Our piece tries to update the oratorio tradition by for example juxtaposing the music of J. S. Bach with contemporary classical music, by combining drama theatre with contemporary dance, visual art and artistic research. Oratorio is an art form that resembles opera, but is devoted to religious themes and doesn't usually have much action on stage. Our work has lots of action on stage, but the work concentrates on the meaning and message of Christmas — from various angles — so fully that we think it's reasonable to think of it as an oratorio. Or as a talkative dance performance. Or as a free-form documentary theatre.

The performers:

Hanna Ahti

Noora Dadu

Maija Karhunen

Saara Kiiveri (soprano)

Maija Mustonen

Laura Rämä

Riikka Talvitie (oboist)

Mirka Viitala (pianist)

I interviewed the following persons for this theatre piece: Noora Dadu (one of the actors of the play), Aatos & Armas Mäki (children), Laura Rissanen (The Secretary General of the Parliamentary Group of the National Coalition Party of Finland), Antti Ronkainen (Researcher of Economics & Politics, University of Helsinki), Wille Rydman (Member of Parliament, The National Coalition Party of Finland), Kai Sadinmaa (Priest and Writer). They too are a part of our performance, through a video documentary.

Costumes: Suvi Matinaro, assisted by Marjaana Karhula.

Scenography: Teemu Mäki & Suvi Matinaro.

Videos: Teemu Mäki.

Cinematography: Anna Antsalo.

Light: Heikki Paasonen.

Sound: Joonas Pehrsson.

Translations: Teemu Mäki & Emilia Norlamo.

MUSIC

The following compositions are played and/or sung in the performance:

Johann Sebastian Bach: Wir waren schon zu tief gesunken, from the cantata Es ist das Heil uns kommen her / It Is Our Salvation Come Here to Us (1724).

Olivier Messiaen, four compositions for solo piano from the series Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus / Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus (1944): Christmas, Contemplation of the Joyful Spirit, The Virgin's First Communion and Contemplation of The Church of Love.

Riikka Talvitie, two songs to lyrics by Teemu Mäki: Jotta ehditte pettyä / You Still Have Time To Be Disappointed (2018), Tänään sataa lunta / It's Snowing Today (2018).

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What is Koivuryhmä? We created Koivuryhmä / Birch Trees (literal translation: "A Group of Birch Trees") in 2017 to make a dance & theatre piece called Sinusta tulee koivu / You'll Be a Tree. We enjoyed working together so we wanted to continue. Not all people who worked on You'll Be a Tree had time to work on The Gospel of Christmas, but a few new trees grew into our group.


Merry Christmas!

Teemu Mäki
writer & director of THE GOSPEL OF CHRISTMAS / JOULUEVANKELIUMI

FUNDING

Kiasma Theatre (Finnish National Gallery), Kone Foundation, The Finnish Cultural Foundation (Uusimaa Regional Fund), Arts Promotion Centre Finland.


THANKS

Erica Nyholm, Meri Valkama, Riikka Virtanen, Kiasma Theatre, Zodiak Centre of Contemporary Dance.

 
FEEDBACK

Press:

Laura Kytölä: "Teemu Mäen Jouluevankeliumissa Jeesus ja joulupukki ovat loppuun palaneita ja väärinymmärrettyjä hahmoja, jotka kohtaavat toisensa ostoskeskuksen parkkipaikalla", 8.12.2018 / 9.12.2018, Helsingin Sanomat.
Pdf-version of the review is here.

Hanna Helavuori: "Joulun mieli – missä pelastuksemme?", Tinfo, Teatterin tiedotuskeskus, 13.12.2018.
Pdf-version of the review is here. 


PERFORMANCE HISTORY

Premiere: December 7, 2018, Kiasma Theatre (Finnish National Gallery).