Jukka Kajava (February 25, 1943,

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

– May 16, 2005,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was one of the most well known Finnish

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

critics. Kajava worked for

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

beginning in 1967, joining the paper's permanent staff in 1978. In addition to reviewing and criticizing, Kajava also directed theater and musical theater. The first production he directed was the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

''Iloinen Leski'' (Merry Widow), collaborating with Antti Einari Halonen, for the

Åbo Svenska Teater Åbo Svenska Teater ( fi, Turun ruotsalainen teatteri) is a Finland-Swedish theatre in the city of Turku in Finland and the oldest theatre in the country, founded in 1839. The building itself is also the oldest still functioning theatre house in F ...

in 1972. Kajava was also known as a spokesperson for quality culture for children and received a State Award for Children's Culture in the year 1985. He received the State Award for Critics in 1992. Kajava was a critic held in esteem by many, whose reviews could notoriously consign a mediocre performance to total oblivion, but who often highlighted new and notable performances and performers from the Finnish general theatrical scene.

References

Finnish theatre critics Finnish television critics 1943 births 2005 deaths {{Finland-writer-stub