Theatre Reviews
Selected press
“Myllyteatteri gave the audience a unique performance… The performance ultimately takes place in the head and heart of the spectator. Divina Commedia is a journey in the human mind.”
— ITF Skupi Festival Jury
“Miira Sippola is an ambitious and inventive theatre-maker who does not shy away from challenges… a powerful and compelling theatrical experience.”
— Martti Mäkelä, Skenet.fi
“The group’s productions feature distinctive performers whose expression differs from the mainstream… a performance that constantly draws the viewer into its vortex.”
— Maria Säkö, Helsingin Sanomat
“The best theatre I have seen in Finland in years — European in the best possible sense.”
— Audience feedback
“Sippola is able to create in the spectator a point of contact that lies beneath the surface, somewhere in the subconscious.”
— Martti Mäkelä, Skenet.fi
“The poetic and the raw, the divine and the banal are constantly intertwined… in the midst of sorrow, laughter liberates.”
— Suna Vuori, Helsingin Sanomat
“The company succeeds in communicating something that is forgotten and common to everything living on earth.”
— Lorna Fox, The Skinny
“…the most enigmatic production at this year’s Fringe… Saari has a surprising amount to say about what it means to be human.”
— The Scotsman
“Visually contemporary, yet timeless in its message.”
— Ilona Kangas, Turun Sanomat
Reviews
Loputon Käpylä -opera, 2023
“Miira Sippola’s text is enigmatic and poetic. Behind the everyday events of Käpylä, a Chorus sings, representing eternity. There is no beginning or end; all differences and contradictions ultimately dissolve into one within eternity.”
— Sirkku Nyström, Kotimaa, 23 Jan 2023
Kolga 2016
“Tommi Parkko’s poem was like a recipe from which Myllyteatteri constructed a magnificent whole. Literature truly has the ability to stretch. […] Henna Kaikula’s phenomenal presence was unsurpassable. She literally stretched humanity along the path of Kolga and conjured such astonishing beings from herself that reality itself began to transform.”
— Aleksis Salusjärvi, kiiltomato.net
Case Gaala, 2014
“I greatly enjoyed the force of imagination that Sippola unleashes. She is able to create in the spectator a point of contact that lies beneath the surface, somewhere in the subconscious.”
— Martti Mäkelä, skenet.fi
“The group’s productions have always featured distinctive performers whose expression differs from the mainstream. (…) In the stage image, the performers, the large dolls made of them by the Polish artist Łukasz Trzciński, and a few objects, together with lighting and continuously impulse-generating music, create a performance that constantly draws the viewer into its vortex…”
— Maria Säkö, Helsingin Sanomat, 14 Oct 2014
“The best theatre I have seen in Finland in years — European in the best possible sense.”
“I’ve been processing this delight all weekend. It really struck me. One could see the performance countless times and still find something to admire and wonder at.”
“It remained as images in the rooms of the mind. A visually rich flow of imagery — an incredibly fine performance.”
— Audience feedback
Divine Comedy /Jumalainen näytelmä
“Myllyteatteri gave the audience a unique performance, based on Dante’s Divina Commedia and his poetry, but translated and adapted into the language of theatre. The performance ultimately takes place in the head and heart of the spectator. Divina Commedia is a journey in the human mind, an experience shared with the audience.”
— ITF Skupi Festival Jury (Ana Bagriana, Emil Ruben, Salaetin Bilal)
Jumalainen näytelmä
“Jumalainen näytelmä is a travelogue through visions.”
— Maria Säkö, Helsingin Sanomat, 12 Oct 2011
“Myllyteatteri’s Jumalainen näytelmä is visually contemporary, yet timeless in its message.”
— Ilona Kangas, Turun Sanomat, 14 Oct 2011
“To heaven with Dante” // “Through the use of physical acting methods (Suzuki and Viewpoints), Sippola turns the large ensemble into a single mass. Rarely has such heavy footwork been more fitting.”
— Linnea Stara, Hufvudstadsbladet, 14 Oct 2011
“Miira Sippola is an ambitious and inventive theatre-maker who does not shy away from challenges. (…) Together with her group, Sippola has created a powerful and compelling theatrical experience which, also in its concise duration, is an insightful adaptation of a historical classic.”
— Martti Mäkelä, Skenet.fi, 20 Oct 2011
Via Crucis, Helsinki 2009–2010
“A spot-on performance for our time.”
“Via Crucis seeks the meaning of Jesus for the present day… In its scale, it is the largest theatre production in Finland, with nearly 100 participants.”
“This performance has many faces. It can be a religious event or an urban happening. I see it as a work of art. Religion has always been expressed through paintings or films — this is one of those.”
Saari – The Island, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 08/2010
“The company succeeds in its aim of communicating something that is forgotten and common to everything living on earth.”
— Lorna Fox, Skinny.co.uk, 30 Aug 2010
“… the most enigmatic production on this year’s Fringe…” // “Saari has a surprising amount to say about solitude, companionship and what it means to be human.” – Roger Cox, Scotsman.co.uk 28.08.2010
Saari, Helsinki 11–12/2009
“Director Miira Sippola and her multidisciplinary ensemble, gathered from different parts of the world, create with Saari a truly unique atmosphere — at once local and universal, archaic and contemporary — in the midst of pre-Christmas Helsinki.”
— Maria Säkö, Helsingin Sanomat
Lot’s Wife, 05/2008
“The text presents a clear and recognizable theme with compelling verbal tensions, while the interpretation reflects a carefully considered physical dimension and a strong, original approach in which both subconscious and precisely structured themes seem to transfer onto the stage in a constant state of challenge. The poetic and the raw, the divine and the banal are constantly intertwined. In the midst of sorrow, laughter liberates.”
— Suna Vuori, Helsingin Sanomat, 18 May 2008
Tragedy Competition, 05/2008
“Tragic art” — Suna Vuori, column on Tragediakilpailu, Helsingin Sanomat, 5 June 2008
“Tragedy for the people!”
“The festival proves that tragedy has its place and purpose.”
— Eeva Kemppi, Turun Sanomat, 20 May 2008
“The theatre tent draws inspiration from Ancient Greece”
— Janne Sundqvist, Radio Culture News, 18 May 2008
Report on the Theatre Tent and Lootin vaimo on Yle Cultural News, 19 May 2008
“The theatre tent’s tragedy competition drags ancient tragedy into the present day”
— Suna Vuori, Helsingin Sanomat, 19 May 2008
“Bread and tragedy filling a circus tent”
— Soila Lehtonen, Aamulehti, 18 May 2008
“Oh, how sorrowful! — The theatre tent’s tragedy competition launches a new festival”
— Suna Vuori, Helsingin Sanomat, 16 May 2008
“A woman from Lapua — Miira Sippola brings a theatre festival to central Helsinki with Ostrobothnian intensity”
— Pekka Hiltunen, Image, 4/2008
“Is modern tragedy possible?”
Interview with director Miira Sippola and Dr. Ari Hirvonen
— Maria Säkö, Teatterilehti, 3/2008
The Call Of The Empty Stomach, 11/2005
“Miira Sippola’s The Call Of The Empty Stomach keeps the viewer alert. … The performance moves in the pulse of intense, broken, and compressed breathing. … Tyhjän mahan kutsu is set in a recognizable recent past.”
— Lauri Meri, Helsingin Sanomat, 4 Nov 2005
“Tyhjän mahan kutsu continues the experimental line of Myllyteatteri, founded in 2003, seeking to break into ever new territories of theatrical expression. The performance, directed by Miira Sippola, unfolds as a collage-like whole in which religious elements take a central role.”
— Maria Lyytinen, Ylioppilaslehti, 9 Nov 2005
“We are dealing with the fundamental questions of corporeality.”
— Marjo Lemponen, Skenet.fi, 16 Nov 2005
Attempts Of Her Life/ Tapaus A
“The new Myllyteatteri creates postmodern theatre in the spirit of the baroque in Suomenlinna.”
*“Crimp’s play Tapaus A surfs on the light surface foam of our time and dives deep into the layers of European cultural history…
The old Myllysali, hidden within Suomenlinna, seems made for theatre… (where) the play has taken on the outward form of the baroque.
Director Miira Sippola’s analysis is compelling: has Western culture not, in many ways, come full circle and returned to the spirit of the baroque?
In Aili Ojalo’s wildly imaginative yet meticulous set and costume design, an endless role-play unfolds, performed with bold self-awareness both for the audience and the video camera.”*
— Lauri Meri, Helsingin Sanomat, 6 Oct 2004
“Tapaus A is a joyful message. Helsinki has gained a new and intriguing piece in its theatre landscape.”
— Elina Kervinen, Ylioppilaslehti
“Tapaus A is one of the best plays I have ever seen. For a first-time theatre-goer, the experience MIGHT be too overwhelming and intense, but if you feel that something new is needed alongside institutional theatre and assembly-line productions, you should definitely head to Suomenlinna.”
— Audience comment, autumn 2004
Lapua!, 03/2003
“For the people of Lapua, nothing is ever enough — in Aurinkoteatteri’s new production, megalomania reaches its peak.”
“Lapua transforms into an almost mythical community, both in its history and its future.”
— Jukka Kajava, Helsingin Sanomat, 28 March 2003
Mental State: Lapua!
— Anni Valtonen, Image, 2/2003