Director’s Word – Only the best for me
Only the best for me has started in a unique way: authors have been given free rein. The result is surprising, bold and absurd worlds that are rarely seen on the stages of Finnish city theatres. It is interesting how similar themes all three plays carry, even though they have been created separately from each other and from different starting points. They talk to each other and complement each other’s ideas.
Sofi Oksanen’s I Love You Already is about the Ukrainian fertility treatment business. Ukraine is the most corrupt country in Europe, with a minimum wage of 160 euros and a low standard of living. The play premiered at the Burg Theatre in Vienna as part of the European Communion performance in 2017, and its setting later gave rise to Oksanen’s novel Dog Park (2019).
Elina Snicker’s Cry for a Stranger is based on the Karelian lament tradition and the playwright’s own father, who has made his professional career as an officer.
Maija Vilkkumaa’s Sea Weather is retro sci-fi, i.e. science fiction written from the perspective of the past. The best-known representative of the genre is steampunk, but this time, probably for the first time on Finnish stages, it is VHS punk – a fantasy of the future written from the perspective of the 90s.
A miniature play is more of a short story than a novel. Its conciseness forces you to crystallize the essence and leave something for the viewer as well. Small is beautiful: a light shape gives room for the recipient’s insights.
Aino Kivi