Akse Pettersson’s new work, Oppitunteja eläville (Lessons for the Living), is an exploration of human limitations.
In the 1970’s, the Finnish government set up a secret research centre whose aim was to prepare the nation for future upheavals. At the centre, three people (Joonas Heikkinen, Katariina Kaitue, and Janne Reinikainen) are trying to solve problems that state scientists and trainers (Ringa Manner, Karin Mäkiranta and Heikki Pitkänen) have set for them. Days turn into years, but is the project moving them any closer to a scientific breakthrough – making a connection with the future, or even with themselves?
Freelancer and the Finnish National Theatre’s resident director Akse Pettersson’s new work examines the experience of existing outside of time, discomfort, confusion, and the difficulty of comprehension – the basic human experience of feeling stupid. Pettersson’s previous works have been huge audience favourites: combining familiar with unfamiliar, laughter with melancholy, and profound with banal. Oppitunteja eläville carries on in the same vein and yields a ravishingly distinctive performance.
Production Team
Cast Joonas Heikkinen, Katariina Kaitue, Heikki Pitkänen, and Janne Reinikainen
Musicians Ringa Manner and Karin Mäkiranta
Direction and play text Akse Pettersson Set design Katri Rentto and Akse Pettersson Costume design Auli Turtiainen Lighting design Anna Pöllänen Video design Ida Järvinen Make-up design Minttu Minkkinen Prop design Sanna Sucksdorff