Jukka Kajava

{{Short description|Finnish theatre and television critic}}

File:Jukka kajava 1980.jpg{{More citations needed|date=June 2022}}

Jukka Ilmari Kajava (February 25, 1943, Oulu – May 16, 2005, Berlin) was one of the most well known Finnish theatre and television critics.{{Cite web |title=Kajava, Jukka (1943–2005) |url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/1243 |access-date=2022-05-07 |website=Kansallisbiografia |language=fi | author=Hellman, Heikki | date=2018 }}

Kajava worked for Helsingin Sanomat beginning in 1967, joining the paper's permanent staff in 1978. In addition to reviewing and criticizing, Kajava also directed theater and musical theater.{{Cite book |last=Koski |first=Pirkko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3hdEAAAQBAJ |title=Finland's National Theatre 1974–1991: The Two Decades of Generational Contests, Cultural Upheavals, and International Cold War Politics |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-367-47689-2 |language=en}} The first production he directed was the operetta Iloinen Leski (Merry Widow), collaborating with Antti Einari Halonen, for the Åbo Svenska Teater 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.[https://uppslagsverket.fi/sv/sok/view-170045-KajavaJukka Kajava, Jukka] at Uppslagsverket Finland (in Swedish).