From a murder investigation to a mystery from the past
A body is found in Iceland’s Westfjords, followed by another. Verses from an Icelandic Christmas poem left at the crime scenes put Hildur and her partner Jakob on the trail of a serial killer.
As the investigation progresses, Hildur realises that the murders are somehow connected to her own past and the mystery of her younger sisters, who disappeared 30 years ago.
“Rósa & Björk is a gripping murder mystery in which two separate storylines gradually begin to intertwine. Hildur receives increasingly compelling clues about her own trauma and becomes convinced that the killer knows something about it,” says director Tuomas Parkkinen.
“As Hildur hunts the killer, she discovers that she herself is being hunted. The killer must be caught if she is ever to uncover what happened to her younger sisters.”
A new standalone work
Rósa & Björk is based on the second and third instalments in Satu Rämö’s hugely popular crime series. Based on the first book, Hildur was a hit with audiences, attracting almost 27,000 theatregoers. Both stage adaptations are by Satu Rasila.
According to Parkkinen, staging a sequel is a rare and unique opportunity in theatre. That makes returning to the world of Hildur with the same creative team particularly rewarding.
“We know one another and speak the same language, having already made the journey of discovering how to use the tools of theatre to tell the story of an almost 400-page book in two hours.”
Parkkinen stresses, however, that although Rósa & Björk picks up where the previous play left off, it is a standalone work. Audiences do not need to have read Rämö’s books or seen the first play to follow the story.
The darker side of society
Rósa & Björk continues in the Nordic blue style, but this time the rugged mountain landscapes give way to a more industrial, urban side of Iceland.
The genre also exposes the cracks beneath Iceland’s idyllic image. “As Hildur begins to unravel the tangled murder investigation, it reveals the darker side of the Nordic welfare state—a side that often remains hidden,” Parkkinen says.
For Parkkinen, the friendship between Hildur and Jakob provides a counterbalance to the harrowing events—as does, above all, the rapport between Elena Leeve and Paavo Kinnunen on stage.
“These outstanding actors and their presence make the play remarkably effortless to watch, bringing a certain sense of comfort, grace and understanding to its darker themes.”
As a director, Parkkinen finds it important to evoke suspense, compassion, joy and other genuine emotions in the audience.
“We work incredibly hard to make the audience believe in what is unfolding before their eyes, even though we know it is make-believe. When the entire auditorium gasps in horror or bursts into laughter at the same moment, that is the unique magic of theatre.”
Text by Ida Henritius