The National Theatre and two Berlins
Abstract
In this article, I discuss theatre and Cold War cultural diplomacy, specifically the relationship of the Finnish
National Theatre to a divided Berlin, the visit of the East German Berliner Ensemble to Helsinki in September 1959 and the visit of the Finnish National Theatre to West Berlin in October 1961. The Berliner Ensemble performed Bertolt Brecht's Mutter Courage and Leben des Galilei at the Finnish National Theatre for a Helsinki audience. Two years later, the Finnish National Theatre visited the Hebbel Theatre in West Berlin for the Berliner Festwoche (Berlin Festival Week), with a production of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull, directed by Eino Kalima I examine these visits and their reception as part of the cultural diplomacy conducted by and towards Finland. In particular, I will discuss the visits in relation to Seppo Hentilä's interpretation that of all the international disputes during the Cold War it was the German question that had the greatest impact on Finland's position between the two fronts. As the only European country, Finland could not normalise its relations with either of the two Germanies. According to Hentilä, Helsinki was the only capital city from the early 1950s onwards where the two Germanies began to compete for popularity among Finns.
Keywords: theatre, Cold War, cultural diplomacy, Finnish National Theatre, Berliner Ensemble
