Throughout March 2026, & Espoo Theatre will be in festival mode. &Fest: Learning to Disagree is a theater festival, but the programme includes much more than just theatre performances: there will be plenty of free events open to everyone, such as debates and artist meet-and-greets.
Each festival week begins with a Puheenvuoro, a speech introducing the festival themes. It is an essay in text and video format, published on the & website.
The audience is introduced to the atmosphere of the performances by Kisastudio, where experts discuss the evening's performance. Kisastudio creates the collective excitement familiar from sports around theatre and provides background information on the performance.
The audience will also have the opportunity to meet internationally renowned theater directors: Palestinian Bashar Murkus and Polish-French Anna Smolar, among others, will be attending the artist meetings.
Each festival week will end in a club event on Saturday. The clubs are organized in collaboration with various partners. For example, the Puistokatu 4 project's Tieteen ja toivon klubi, a live recording of Uusi Juttu media's Kerma culture program, and a ballroom dance club led by dance artist Samuli Emery are all on the agenda.
The festival originated from a need to celebrate democracy and to try to understand the role of art in Finland. Democracy involves disagreement. &Fest creates a safe space to debate essential issues while respecting each other and without fear of rejection.Jussi Sorjanen, Artistic Director
