Espoo theatre’s Fairy Tale Day celebrations go digital

Hevosenkenkä Theatre will publish an online audio play for children to enjoy on Finland’s national Fairy Tale Day

On the occasion of Finland’s national Fairy Tale Day, Hevosenkenkä Theatre, an Espoo children’s theatre has prepared a special surprise for all children who were eagerly awaiting this Finnish tradition.

Today, 18 October, the theatre will release an audio play of the story “The Bear That Wasn’t” as a virtual gift to all those who were eager to visit in person but were unable due to the pandemic. The audio play is also part of the theatre’s programme celebrating its own 45^th anniversary.

Digitizing culture in times of a pandemic

Culture going digital has become commonplace over the last few months as Europe has grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, Finland’s national Fairy Tale Day has become the excellent grounds for the Hevosenkenkä Theatre to show what it can do to a new audience that otherwise might not have visited in person.

The audio play “The Bear That Wasn’t” is 27 minutes long and is suitable for all ages. Initially, it will be released only in Finnish, but the theatre wants to make it available in English as well, as soon as possible. The play will be freely available to anyone interested on the City of Espoo Soundcloud and Spotify accounts and on the Hevosenkenkä Fairy Tale Channel.

On the occasion of the theatre’s 45^th anniversary and national Fairy Tale Day, the Mayor of Espoo Jukka Mäkelä, who is also their patron, stated that “Fairy tales meant a lot to me as a child. That is probably why still like stories – especially the Espoo Story… I used to tell stories to my own as well, and especially my son Teemu enjoyed my dinosaur stories. We were and still are regular customers and fans of Hevosenkenkä Theatre.”