Professional actor, Lotta Vaattovaara, came to watch YET’s performances on Tuesday and we had the chance to interview her! Vaattovaara has been participating in YET 12 years ago on YET7 (2005) and YET8 (2006). This is what she thought of the performances:
First of all thank you so much for the awesome performances! They gave me nostalgic feelings and they were so pleasing to watch. When I was participating in YET7 we also made plays from Kalevala. Our main points were on Väinämöinen and Aino, and also Lemminkäinen and his story. It was fun to see how much the same the plays had in them if you compare them to the older ones. Love, how hard it is, and angst, how it can change people. Although those are usually anyway the main points in every play usually.
Nowadays Lotta works in Oulu’s City Theatre as an actor. She thinks that YET was the thing that made sure for her to wanting to be an actor!
YET was a really essential thing for me in my teenage years. It made me be sure of what I wanted to do in my life, act! I think the project itself is a really good way to find yourself and also practice your skills in English. I loved to see that it hasn’t changed through the years. When I was in YET we also had the teams, Finnish and the Dutch. Also Italian one! Yes, Italy was part of the project on YET8. I didn’t go to the Netherlands but Italy! In YET7 I was in the Dutch team and I was Aino. Oh how I loved that. It made me more self-confident than I was.
YET hasn’t changed its purpose. It still is a language and a theatre project for the children to try something new! It gives us new friends and that is what Lotta also remembers, the friends. She thought it was an awesome experience and was so glad that she could take part of the project!
Text: Arsi Paananen
Pictures: Arsi Paananen
