ABSTRACT
The Finnish National Theatre found many of its biggest audience successes among the classic international farces and well-made dramas of yesteryear. However, balancing commercially successful popular drama with drama of high artistic merit caused some of the most controversial public debates ever to engulf the Theatre. The issue was rooted in a desire to separate nationally acceptable drama from commercial or entertainment theatre programming, though definitions for these terms were often inadequate and subject to change. Public critical condemnation did not generally diminish the level of interest the general public exhibited towards a play. Jacques Offenbach’s operetta Parisian Life especially in 1981 raised the strongest condemnations. The original subject of criticism, the Finnish National Theatre’s operetta production, faded into the background in the heated public exchanges of opinions that ensued. The production itself fared well and continued to be a hit with its audiences for a number of years. On the other hand, both negative and positive reviews are both evidence of the fact that the National Theatre held a unique position in the Finnish theatre world, even though the precise nature of that position still remained amorphous.
