A performance about dogs that are allowed to pee on the table and finding salvation, about sisterhood and aristocratic decadence, about nuns in love and unwanted girl children.
Mannerheim Sisters is a performance about Carl Gustaf Mannerheim’s two daughters Stasie and Sophie and their unknown destinies. Two actors explore what sisterhood, love, quarrels, differences and understanding between women may have meant for the two sisters. Together, they fantasise about what the sisters, both rebels in their own way, thought, felt and did. There is very little we know, but much we want to guess and assume. The performance premiered in Helsinki in January 2025, and was hailed by both critics and audiences as one of the theatrical highlights of the year.
Actors: Oksana Lommi, Mathilda Kruse
Performance dramaturge: Kaisa Lundán
Light and set design: Saana Volanen
Costume design: Ella Aurora Snellman
Sound design and composition: Iida Hägglund
Supported by: Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Samuel Huber Art Foundation, Amos Anderson Fund, Stiftelsen Tre Smeder, Otto A. Malm Foundation, Nygréns Stiftelse, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation
The performance text is partly based on an article written by Tuija Pallaste, published in Helsingin Sanomat on 4 November 2017. The quotes were translated to Finnish by Tuija Pallaste.
Oksana Lommi is an actor and performance artist from Helsinki. Lommi graduated from Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy in 2021, and has since worked as a freelancer in theatre, dance, film and television, as well as her own performing arts works. Lommi is part of the Åbo Svenska Teater’s ensemble in 2025–2026.
Mathilda Kruse is an actor and performance artist who graduated from Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy in 2022. She has worked in a variety of projects, both in music theatre and her own works. In the spring of 2026, Mathilda played the role of Manda in Vi ska ju bara cykla förbi (ÅST).