Pasi is a playwright who feels that the world is no longer interested in stories by middle-aged male writers like him.

No one commissions his plays, and even when they do, the media takes no notice. To give his career a boost, Pasi decides to create a one-woman show about the everyday life of an immigrant woman in Finland, casting his Iranian-born hairdresser Roja in the leading role.

Pasi intends to transform Roja’s experiences into a performance that combines her moving story with Pasi’s unique insights into the state of the world. Above all, it needs to appeal to modern theatre audiences.

The project runs into one problem after another. At the heart of it all is the question of who has a better understanding of what makes a person’s life worth telling: the person living it or the person listening. Then a sentence about throwing chickens off a roof, taken out of context from the play’s press release, begins circulating on social media, causing a group of patriotic influencers to start dying of outrage. And on top of everything else, Pasi is terrified that the play will be too boring.

“Roja may be the worst possible immigrant for this project. She’s not bitter about anything and she’s always in a good mood.”

Ihmisiä ja kanoja is a comedy written by Atte Järvinen and Mitra Matouf about people, screenwriters, hairdressers, daughters, national treasures, prime ministers and chickens. It is set in present-day Finland, where rage and indignation lie in wait for even the most peaceful passers-by around every corner.

“As Pasi gets older, he should aim to have fewer opinions – but better ones.”

Atte Järvinen is an award-winning Finnish screenwriter and director, best known for his television comedies and satire, including the animated series Pasila and the hit comedies Ihmisten puolue and Sunnuntailounas. Now Atte Järvinen makes his debut as a playwright together with Mitra Matouf, best known as an actor.