Personal life destinies are intertwined with political upheavals
“Yours, Margot offers a multi-layered experience in which small human destinies overlap with major social upheavals,” says director Riikka Oksanen.
The play is based on Meri Valkama’s award-winning debut novel, which was published in 2021.
Oksanen thinks it is extremely interesting and rewarding to make a presentation of a work that has already touched a wide readership. Immediately after the reading experience, the book gave him the feeling that the story was expanding towards a stage work.
“It deals deeply with the themes of loss and renunciation, which can be perfectly adapted to the stage,” he explains.
“It is particularly interesting that a large part of the events take place in intimate spaces, such as apartments. Bringing this to the big stage presents a fascinating challenge and opportunity to create depth and contrast.”
A forgotten past
The stage adaptation follows the world of the book, focusing on the main character Vilja’s childhood and life stages in the GDR, where the family has moved for her father’s job. When they return to Finland, their parents divorce and the Berlin Wall falls. Vilja’s memories of his time in East Germany become blurred.
After her father’s death, Vilja finds a bundle of letters from a woman named Margot. Her mother refuses to talk about her, so Vilja decides to travel back to Berlin to find out what happened to her family there.
“The emergence and revelation of new things for the main character Vilja creates a tension that drives the story forward,” Oksanen says.
Vilja has to face not only the secrets of her own family, but also the changed values and structures of society. “In the performance, the individual’s personal story and the social landscape run side by side, highlighting how historical changes affect people’s mindsets.”
A multi-layered world
The aesthetics of the work create a contrast between East Berlin during the GDR and the world today.
Oksanen says that visual choices are used to bring nostalgic elements, such as old things, to the stage. Alongside these, more modern and abstract solutions are utilised that emphasise social transformation and personal observations.
“The combination of the past and the present creates a rich aesthetic experience that forces the viewer to reflect on the reliability of their own memory,” Oksanen says.
Yours, Margot deals with universal and timeless questions related to humanity.
“It explores letting go and finding meaning, how a person faces the moments in life when the optimism of youth collapses and reality turns out to be more complex and difficult to perceive than one has imagined. This conflict between shapelessness and meaningfulness is an existential question that many of us have to face.”
In addition, the performance resonates with contemporary conceptions of the family: it explores motherhood in many different ways and opens doors to different forms of motherhood – not only as a biological bond, but also as parenthood born through choice.
“This performance is a must-see for anyone who loves high-quality and multi-layered drama,” says Oksanen.
“It’s both visually stunning and intellectually and emotionally touching. In addition, there will be a stunningly skilled ensemble on stage, bringing the book’s multidimensional characters to life.”
Text Ida Henritius