SAMPO Festival 2025 is 27.-31.8.2025!

Birdie

Two mirages. In one: wars, droughts, massive deforestation, polluted coasts, labor exploitation, political instability, poor sanitary conditions, persecution, forced deportation, abuse of natural resources, depleted aquifers, food shortages…

In the other: stocked supermarkets, safe streets, family stability, good health services, freedom, paid work, respect for human rights, welfare, recycling and renewable energies, prosperity, social mobility…

And in between, flocks of birds. Thousands of migrating birds constantly drawing impossible shapes in the sky. Movement. Ceaseless movement. Birds… and beyond, planets, asteroids, raw materials, galaxies, blood, cells, weapons, atoms, electrons, advertising, quarks, ideology, fear, waste, hope. Life. Nothing in the cosmos is quiet.

Stillness is a chimera. The only thing there is, is movement.

If it is impossible to stop an electron, what’s the point in building fences against flocks of birds?

Birdie is a multimedia performance with live video, objects, Hitchcock’s The Birds revisited, scale models, 2000 mini animals, wars, smugglers, a massive migration and three performers handling this messy world with wit, criticism and commitment with humankind.

Notes on the show

When we started the project, the refugee and migrant crisis exploded in the face of the ‘civilized’ Europe and we were sucked by the vortex of the moment, the news, the videos and the feelings of anger and shame for what we were watching. Then we started to consume cultural and journalistic products that seemed to calm the anger and the shame by just adding more anger and more shame, by directly appealing to our sense of guilt (guilt works great, it is so satisfying). And then we collected facts, statistics, speeches, numbers that were making us feel like we were doing the right thing; we were feeling the right thing; we were thinking the right thing. This was quiet comforting from a personal point of view, but artistically, in the end, this direct approach to the subject made us feel very empty. We felt so creatively defenceless in front of this mess, of this huge problem that we arrived to the conclusion that a direct approach to the problem wasn’t the right one for us.

This is how we work: through metaphors; doing one step backwards to see the sense in the chaos; stripping the facts until we get their essence; suggesting connections between actual events, history and vintage films or fictions to create a new approach, a very personal, fresh point of view. We flee from the here and now and the rush of the news because you can find that in the TV, the newspapers or in documentaries and because we think that the pornography of the dramatic images and the direct approach to the facts activate only one kind of emotional response: rage mixed with shame and pity (all those feelings you can find in the pit of the stomach).

Nevertheless, we appeal to other emotions (like compassion, persistence, hope or determination) and above all to the emotional intelligence and critical sense of the audience. We know that nowadays the situation regarding refugees and migrant people is so desperate that it seems it requires a direct, resolute, assertive or even virile approach. But this is exactly what we want to avoid.

Finally, we stopped watching all those videos and pictures with which media and social networks constantly bombarded us because we couldn’t think clearly, we couldn’t see what was lying behind, and we started to think on a different approach, something less direct, less filled with anger, shame and fear and more with humanity.

What’s Birdie?

The stage becomes the green of a golf course. On it, two performers handling objects, video cameras and a scale model recreating the picture above. Where was it taken? Who took it? Why is this picture so appealing? Is it just for its content or is there more? Who are the people on the picture? Who are the birds on the fence? Where do they come from? Where do they go? What happens next? Who are we, the ones observing this picture? Birdie is an attempt to give an answer to all these questions by asking more questions and sowing doubts on our certainties.

https://www.srserrano.com

Guillem Albà: Ma solitud

Guillem Albà's new show is a return to the origins: his characteristic visual universe. This time through puppets and small-format comedy and a vibrant collective experience of proximity.

A twenty-five minutes journey from comedy to poetry, with the hands as a starting point. This part of the body that returns us to the tangible, everyday and artisanal, and reconnects us with the community.

Hands that have created most of the things we use. Hands that have unleashed the most sublime beauty and the most terrible atrocities. Hands that tell the stories that have united us for so long. To claim them so that they are not left alone and forgotten between keyboards, screens and over-information. An experience to remember the importance of what is human, simple and shared.

www.guillemalba.com

Rauxa Cia (Catalonia-Spain):

Teatro de Papel - Paper Theatre

Paper Theater is a contemporary circus show that, through the manipulation of objects, clowning, physical theater and a collection of extraordinary puppets, seeks to claim the power of the Imagination.

Paper theater is a person in his loneliness, it is a party without courtship, a monodialogue where the imagination lightens the weight of loneliness to give way to a poetic and dreamlike world.

It's a pause, a glitch within an accelerated system. A moment suspended in time where the world stops and poetry dances.

https://www.rauxacia.com

Maribor Puppet Theatre (Slovenia):

TRANSPORT: CARGO

Hyper-realistic puppet miniature

What is the price of speed?

Transport: Cargo sheds light on road transport and the everyday of global trade where speed and accessibility promote economic growth but also lead to overexplotation of natural resources and environmental pollution. The production takes the audience on a journey that encourage us to stir from a relentlessly racing traffic daze and rouses us from the sleepiness of morning congestions.

Transport: Cargo takes us into the world of global trade, where speed and accessibility drive economic growth but also bring negative consequences such as over-exploitation of natural re- sources, environmental pollution, and violations of labour rights. The story follows a trucker under severe time pressure from his employer. The obstacles along the way only add to his stressful situation. The night brings a chance encounter, and the morning dawns with a shocking event that prompts a profound reflection on moral and ethical issues.

The performance questions our ways of mobility, consumption patterns and daily habits. It also expresses concerns about the policies that shape the world and seeks answers to how we can create a fairer, ecologically more responsible world.

https://www.project-transport.eu

https://www.lg-mb.si/predstave/transport-tovor/

Lutkovno gledališce Ljubljana (Slovenia):

TRANSPORT: DEPARTURE

Hyper-realistic puppet miniature

Transport: Departure brings into focus the natural disasters around us: floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires. It is a vivid story of the world of today, where the changes brought on by all of us affect the existence of millions of creatures around the world. Do we take the comfortable road and go along with the ride, allowing our bad habits to let the beauty of this world fade away in the rearview mirror? Or do we pull the handbrake and change the course together?

FLOODS IN EUROPE HAVE INCREASED BY 50% SINCE 1980, AND THEIR INTENSITY CONTINUES TO RISE DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE. BY THE MIDDLE OF THIS CENTURY, THEY COULD DOUBLE IN SOME REGIONS OF EUROPE.

Transport: Departure sheds light on excessive exploitation of natural resources, which leads to the disruption of ecosystem balance. This imbalance is increasingly manifesting itself in the rise of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires, affecting millions of people worldwide. The Ljubljana Puppet Theatre show through an intimate story and documen- tarist approach problematizes the overexploitation of natural resources, which lead to extreme floods (in Slovenia).

In the past we deprived rivers of their natural space, crammed them into narrow riverbeds, convinced that we could control them. But the compressed river gains strength and speed. With increasingly frequent extreme precipitation brought about by climate change, the river relentlessly demands its space back and reminds us that nature follows its laws.

In addition to ecological concerns, the performance also addresses the inadequacies of spatial planning policies, which, through reckless infrastructure expansion and the interests of urban developers, further increase environmental vulnerability by disregarding ecological limitations and the capacity of ecosystems.

“INSTEAD OF FIGHTING AGAINST NATURE, WE MUST WORK WITH IT. THIS WAY, WE CAN PROTECT SETTLEMENTS WHILE RESPECTING NATURAL FLOWS AND FOSTERING SUSTAINABLE COEXISTENCE WITH RIVERS.” —BOŠTJAN ŠEFIC, HEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT GROUP FOR POST-FLOOD AND LANDSLIDE RECONSTRUCTION, REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

The careless expansion of settlements without consideration for sustainable guidelines leads to degradation of nature, destruction of biodiversity, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. This not only diminishes the quality of human life but also weakens the resilience of natural habitats to climate change.

Departure is not merely an aesthetic reflection but also a metaphor for the urgency of change. The performance highlights the idea of departing from current destructive practices and systems and shifting towards sustainable alternatives. It invites the audience to reflect on their own contribution to the current situation and how each individual can help co-create a more sustainable future.

The central message of the performance is a reflection on the search for balance between development and preservation of nature, which will enable the long-term coexistence of humans and the planet. It calls for responsibility. Both personal and collective. It questions everyday habits, consumption patterns, mobility choices, and our understanding of the space we live in. It also raises concerns about the policies that shape the world and seeks answers on how we can create a fairer, more ecologically responsible world.

“IF WE KNEW OUR HOUSE WOULD COLLAPSE, WE WOULD HAVE SAVED OUR MEMORIES.” —FUŽIR FAMILY FROM PREVALJE, SLOVENIA

https://www.project-transport.eu

https://www.lgl.si/si/predstave/vse-predstave/1189-Transport-Odhod

Białostoki Teatr Lalek (Poland):

TRANSPORT: Connecting flights

Hyper-realistic puppet miniature

Does life in flight mode turn empathy on standby too?

The airport is like an oasis separated from the rest of the world. It’s a meeting place for people of different backgrounds, each with their own direction and purpose. For a brief moment, within these walls, they are connected and dependent on each other. Transport: Connecting Flights takes a critical look on unfounded distrust and prejudices that diminish our empathy towards one another, and raises the question: how to cope with screaming injustice?

In the age of globalization and fast-paced living, air travel has become a symbol of economic growth and freedom of movement. The play Connection Flights takes us to an airport – a crossroads of cultures and paths that reveals itself as a microcosm of the globalized world. This transitional space, where dreams of new beginnings intertwine with the reality of human relationships, becomes a powerful metaphor for the complexity of modern society.

The play subtly illuminates the contrast between the ideals of global connectivity, freedom of movement, equality, and openness, and the reality of limitations, prejudices, xenophobia, and systemic shortcomings. In this seemingly boundless space of freedom and connection, invisible hierarchies of privilege and power that shape individual lives are exposed.

Through intimate stories unfolding in this transient space, the play invites reflection on fundamental questions of humanity and how our actions and attitudes contribute to shaping the world we live in. It encourages us to recognize our role in it, question our own values, challenge existing systems, and co-create a future based on social equality, solidarity, and responsibility.

https://www.project-transport.eu

https://www.btl.bialystok.pl/spektakle/transport/

Zaches Teatro (Italy): Cenerentola - Cinderella

From the ashes to the court, Cinderella is a heroine with a thousand faces, creator of her destiny.

There are more than three hundred variants of this fairy tale and it is one of the most ancient in the world. In our research we have decided to focus on the older oral versionsand on two written versions: that of the Brothers Grimm and that of La Gatta Basile's Cinderella.

The scene, realistic and symbolic together, occupied by a grand fireplace full of smoke and soot: a bare and ashen space, full of coal, inhabited by magical presences, the Cenerine's, through which the story of Cinderella is recounted. But more than a research story of prince charming, Cinderella by Zaches Teatro is a fairy tale initiatory in which the problematic road to maturity passes through the detachment from the past.

Locked up in her inner world, Cinderella prefers to move under the ashes in solitude, almost invisible, amid the soot of a seemingly dull life, patiently accepting each of the punishments inflicted by her stepmother and her stepsisters. But within her burns the hidden embers of desire for a completely different existence.

Cinderella, little by little, gains confidence and courage; she learns to face adversity and no longer is afraid to fight her tormentors, who, gradually find themselves more and more powerless and defeated. It will be the inner strength of Cinderella to redeem her.

Using object theatre, dance, expressive movement, original music compositions, and puppetry, the bodies of the performers give life to characters from history in a whirlwind show full of inventions, animated by strange presences between the funny and the grotesque, with a strong visual impact. The manipulation becomes dance, furthermore, the dance evokes the ancient presence, the mysterious ritual under the ashes of the fairy tale.

https://zachesteatro.com

Kaunas State Puppet Theatre:

The Lion and the Bird (Liūtas ir paukštis)

This play is a subtle and inspiring tale about friendship and its meaning. One day, the Lion finds an injured Bird in his autumnal garden. This Lion is different from other lions: he is very sensitive and caring, so he allows Bird to live in his cozy home. Thus begins an unexpected but true and profound friendship between two very different animals. Days go by, Christmas comes and goes, Bird recovers and wants to leave, so the friends inevitably have to part... However, true friendship never disappears - the warm feeling always travels together, and a dear friend lives in a special place – in the heart.

Until the moment when the friends meet again...

The Performance was awarded with the “Golden Stage Cross” for the best Puppet and Object Theatre Performance in Lithuania in the year 2023.

https://kaunoleliuteatras.lt

Puppet Theatre Sampo: Vallaton viuhka - A journey of sounds

Gentle, bright, surprising sounds and melodies transport you from one atmosphere and world to another. Visual elements, reflections, movements, sounds and objects – their play enchants everyone. With the power of imagination, we travel together into space, ride a carousel or go on a walk on the streets of the city!

This performance is perfect for the youngest members of the family, babies and toddlers, but adults will also get a wonderful, calming experience from the performance.

"This performance is like getting a massage for your soul!" - audience comment from January 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtWyPshKdg

https://nukketeatterisampo.fi

TANGRAM Kollektiv (Germany): Shades of Shadows (Schattenwerfer)

A discovery tour into the world of shadows

”Let us discover the World of Shadows!“

A Trip through an enchanted City leads us to a very special chamber. Three white Canvases are creating a room and space for projections. Inside the Chamber, a table, a small Piano, some objects and two flashlights. Suddenly the light changes and two puppetry players lead us on suprising paths into the magical universe of shadows. Laws of Physics dont apply, expectations are crossed.

Shadows entering through the backdoor and stealing our Stuff! Everyday object shadows are running wild for their own little dance of freedom. They are getting bigger, and smaller, they split and they merge. Even the puppeteers shadows multiply and are creating a dialogue. Shadows become whatever they imagined to be. Shadows become bodies, bodies become shadows and then for a second being alone feels a lot less lonely.

An ode to the power of Imagination!

”Schattenwerfer“ isn't your everyday Shadow Piece. Its about the relationship and the dialogue between a Shadow and his Body, and questions playfully the hierarchy of this relation. It sharpens our view for these black strange things that follow us everywhere and stick to our feet like gum, that we can´t run away from even if we are super fast.

https://tangram-kollektiv.de

Alex Barti Show 

"Alex Barti" is a show without text. All history and comedy is expressed with movement, mime and music.

The improbable symbiosis between manipulator and puppet makes the viewer can cross the border between reality and fiction. Is not Barti as human as Alex? And Barti, the complex puppet, is alive! His way of moving speaks for itself. Suddenly he looks at us, gestures, shows his teeth, moves his fingers, and his character, his emotions, his mood changes are reflected so naturally in his rag face that you can not do anything but get excited. His eyes are always looking for new opportunities with which to make feel the essence of life, the most genuine joy, innocence.

This performance is for all ages!

https://alexbarti.dk

SAMPO Festival 2025 workshop day for professionals in the field of performing arts:

HOW TO INTERNATIONALISE YOUR PROJECT

ENVIRONMENTS AND STRATEGIES IN PERFORMING ARTS

• Conducted by Iva Horvat

Time: Tuesday, August 26, 2025, 10 AM – 4 PM, including two 2.5-hour sessions and a lunch break. Location: Pikku Sampo, Iso Roobertinkatu 10 B 20, Helsinki

The GOAL of this workshop is to give tools to develop a personalised strategic plan for each project, in relation to its internationalisation and its projection on the specific market. It’s an individual and collective study of the particular project and includes development of possible strategies for it.

By sharing information on the functioning of different environments, and through comprehension and assimilation of the tools, we put in practice methods of work.

70% of the workshop is praxis, elaboration of the strategy of the proper project, communication with the others and presentation of your project to a group of professionals.

The workshop is directed to ARTISTS, PRODUCERS, MANAGERS AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS RELATED TO PERFORMING ARTS SECTOR.

SUBJECTS OF THE WORKSHOP:

• STRATEGIES FOR DISTRIBUTION OF PERFORMING ARTS
• PROJECT AND ITS PROJECTION
• MARKETS AND VISIBILITY POINTS
• METHODS IN WORK AND PRAXIS
• CREATE A STRATEGY/ PERSONALISED PLAN
• HOW TO?
• NETWORKING
• ECOLOGY/ENERGY/EFFORT
• CREATIVITY/ CAPACITY FOR CHANGE-MUTATION
• COMMUNICATION
• PROFILE OF COMMUNICATOR
• VALUES

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Study the project and define the importance of its presence on a specific international market. Development of long term strategy with the artist and the project.

Analysis of the environments in different countries of the world. Mapping of festivals and visibility spots for the project.

Application of methods and tools to put in practice a strategy in specific space and time.

Communication: How? When? And what for?

Values and principles to elaborate a profile in an environment.

Creativity in forming new and unique methods and forms of work for self-defining and becoming professional.

”This is not a couple” Ville and Jessica are running towards eachother on a sunny deserted beach. Jessica is happy. Ville is happy. Everything is well. Small fluffy white clouds float on the sky. Jessica has a female face and a male body. Ville has a male face and a female body. Jessica’s face looks like a haircut training head. Ville’s face looks like juggler Ville Walo. All is perfect. Waves roll on the sand. Ville and Jessica have forgotten their past wounds. They love eachother. They are happy. Wind flutters their hair. Something bad must happen soon.

Age recommendation 16+

The Bunny and the Miraculous Cloud – Puppet Theatre SAMPO

An endearing, sweet story about a bunnyand a wonderful cloud. The bunny has a lot of fun things to do and tasty things to eat - but one day the bunny is no longer interested in anything. What's wrong with the rabbit, do we need a little magic?

Inspired by Margaret Wise Brown´s book, the dramatization features cute little animal puppets,  songs and live music.

This version of the performance is nonverbal.

Leonardo’s flying monkeys – Puppet Theatre SAMPO 

Have you ever wanted to learn to fly?

 The genial inventor Leonardo has invented many interesting and special machines, also a flying machine. This magical performance is inspired by the renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci and it creates a unique sound landscape and versatile visual world, where you find lots of intriguing inventions. The performance derives its techniques from the traditional variety marionette theatre and visual ideas come from steampunk. In the inventor’s workshop things are not always what they seem, and everything is possible.

A small stage for poetry – Marja Nykänen

Marja Nykänen, a Finnish puppeteer living in France, has also performed in Finland with water puppetry, a form she has worked with for over twenty years. In addition, she has developed more intimate, small-scale theatre inspired by poetry.

The performance now presented consists of three parts:

an excerpt from Töölönlahti, an excerpt from Lumisuus, and a selection of poems by Palestinian poet Maya Abu al-Hayat, who lives in Jerusalem. The texts have been translated by Marja from the French versions by Mohamed Kacimi (Nida Younis: Palestine en éclats, published by Al Manar, March 2025).

The techniques of paper theater, kamishibai, and shadow theater.

Kerällä (A Ball of String) is a rhytmical and colourful dive into friendship and the power of play and crafts.Without words, this heartful performance takes the little ones and their adults on a journey full of wool and everyday wonders. Combining clownery and puppetry, Kerällä encourages one to think – and feel – about love and humanity.

Age: recommendation 1+

VSKNHA is an object and puppetry performance that takes place in a caravan.

After three days between four walls, the quarantined traveler scratches the surface of the map laid open on the floor. Somewhere around the Gulf stream, he reaches VSKNHA, the aerial city that had long lost all its vowels but one, long lost also the laws of gravity and of logic.

VSKNHA is a puppetry performance for young audiences and adults. It is a firework of imagination born during the quarantine, a dadaist poem in the shape of a chain reaction.

Aimo and Hugo are a clown duo driven by determination and belief that they can get through any situation unscathed. The comedy of their act arises from the dynamic between the two. Their contrasting energy levels bring life and spontaneity to every moment. Aimo and Hugo’s sincerity and engaging presence create an energy that reaches all the way to the audience.

"The Incredible Show" is a demonstration of two clowns’ mastery of presence, audience interaction, physical comedy, and absurd twists.

The Boy and the Raven

The Boy and the Raven takes place in a far-away city where airplanes fly over, soldiers march between the buildings and a young boy lives all by himself. Missing his lost parents,  the boy spends his time wandering around the city and trying to stay away from danger until one day, a raven falls down from the sky. The boy takes the raven home and looks after the injured bird. Little by little, friendship and trust develop between the two of them, even without a common language.

Pohjatar - The Queen of the Underworld – Erika Malkki

Strong and empathic solo performance about finding one’s own strength.

POHJATAR is a performance about feminine power. It embraces femininity by telling the story of Louhi from the perspective of women. Louhi is a mythological matriarch from Finnish folklore. She is the ruler of death and destruction and has multiple counterparts in different cultures all over the world. In Pohjatar physical expression and visuality intertwine into a scenic metaphor, spiced up with puppetry and a touch of black humour.

The world of Pohjatar is built from paper, a strong, yet fragile material where life has left heavy stains and marinated memories. Pohjatar is a multi-layered performance that interprets bodily selfautonomy and infertility. Above all, it is a story of daring to rise beyond the given part and where the courage to take over one’s own story and life comes to the spotlight. Pohjatar finds light in the shadows, joy in the sorrow and consolation in the desolation.

Flora Humanum – Erika Malkki

Flora Humanum is a partly improvised solo performance that blends abstract performance art and contemporary dance with physical expression and modern puppet theatre. It explores humanity’s search for flourishing and portrays the attempt to break free from the burdens that weigh down the self and cause a stooped posture. Flora Humanum is a gentle manifesto of sensitivity.

Wonders and Oddities - Theatre Tuomikko

A small girl’s diary from 1987 opens the door to a time when there was no internet, and even the phone was plugged to the wall.

We played outside with our friends and explored the wonders of nature. Little Terhi wrote stories of these adventures in her beloved diary, the surface of which was made of soft fabric. The key to the diary’s tiny lock hung on the chain around her neck. When Terhi finds the diary decades later, she decides to bring the stories to life so that the children of today can also enjoy them.

The aim of the performance is to inspire children to observe and explore nature as well as to help them understand the wonders and diversity of nature. What an exciting world you can find when you lift up a stone that has been in its place for a long time, or how much more life you can see on the forest path when you squat down and observe it up close.

The magic of tabletop theatre!

There is a castle, but its garden and yard are empty. Where are all the residents? Come draw and design your own character. Are there butterflies and birds flying in the castle garden? Does the castle have a ghost and a chicken, or is someone else living there? You can decide!

The workshop is non-stop, you can come whenever you like!