The author’s fingers drift across the keyboard, it’s time to do this performance, how can one be late even from this. The performer interrupts the sentence, someone in the audience finishes it in their mind. And you’re reading this and a storm is rising in the background. But maybe not today, right here. The disaster has time.
Song of Vili Katastrof is a performance about the threats of the future and how they trickle down into social relationships. The performance asks what it is like to talk about climate change and the feelings associated with it; what is it like to talk about it intergenerationally, among friends, within yourself, within society – what is it like to succeed and fail? The performance combines theatre, dance and music concert, which form a slightly strange situation with the potential for something new. Halfway through the performance, the audience is invited to participate in imagination exercises and to talk for a moment in pairs. Participation is voluntary. The performance is aimed at young people and adults of all ages, and is performed in Swedish and Finnish.
The team includes Oo Condit, Pie Kär, Tarleena Laakko, Linnea Sundblom, Sofia Palillo, Nicolas Rehn and Saaramaija Żórawski. The work was also prepared in collaboration with environmental educators Minerva Peijari (Tunne ry) and Wilhelm Blomberg as well as actor Herman Nyby. The discussion uses exercises from a set of teaching materials entitled Toivoa ja toimintaa (Hope and Action), compiled by the Association of Biology and Geography Teachers (BMOL). The work will engage in an internal dialogue with, among others, Tove Jansson’s short story The Fillyjonk Who Believed in Disasters (1962) and Kid Kokko’s performance Disappearing – A Passion (2021).
Well, let’s get down to business! Well, let’s get to climate change, then! That’s it! That’s it, let’s get on with it, come on!
Content warnings:
The performance includes theatre smoke. The concert parts of the performance contain loud sounds. Earplugs are available for those who need them. The premiere will be filmed for the working group's needs.
Pie Kär is a dance artist and choreographer interested in the social dimensions of art. Kär has, for example, composted a contemporary dance festival.
Tarleena Laakko is a dramaturg and artist whose work is guided by associative dramaturgy, language as a way of touching the body and the representation of the vague.
Nicolas ”Leissi” Rehn is a musician-producer, composer and sound designer who works within performing arts, music and film. They are inspired by coincidences.
Sofia Palillo is a light and space designer who is impressed by spaces, atmospheres and landscapes. Palillo has created shows in a ski hall, a landfill, a neoclassical manor, a gunpowder magazine, a public swimming hall and theatres.
Oo Condit acts, researches and creates performances. Having settled in Kontula, Helsinki, Condit gets excited as easily as they worry, and loves their children and the sea.
Linnea Sundblom is a graduate of the Master’s Programme in Acting from the Theatre Academy in Helsinki. As a newcomer to the freelance field, she is determined and curious, cautiously hopeful for the future and eager to work.
Choreographer, producer, lyrics, costumes: Pie Kär
Dramaturge: Tarleena Laakko
Music, composition, sound design: Nicolas ”Leissi” Rehn
Light design: Sofia Palillo
Musician: Saaramaija Żórawski, Nicolas ”Leissi” Rehn
Performers: Linnea Sundblom, Oo Condit
Text: Pie Kär in collaboration with Tarleena Laakko, Wilhelm Blomberg, Oo Condit and working group
Text translations: Herman Nyby, Linnea Sundblom, Pie Kär
English translation: Oo Condit
Voice-over: Herman “Herkku” Nyby
Space design: Pie Kär, Sofia Palillo
Consultation in environmental education: Minerva Peijari (Tunne ry) & Wilhelm Blomberg
Photo: Venla Helenius
Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Svenska kulturfonden, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Foundation Brita Maria Renlunds minne sr.
In collaboration with: Hangö Teaterträff, ITAK / Yksin Sateessa, Tunne ry
Residency: Eskus – Performance Arts Centre, Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth
Thank you: Rosie Swayne, Panu Pihkala, Pinja Sipari, Anni Kaila, Joonas Lampi, Joonas Vohlakari, Milka Luhtaniemi, Jenni Ahti, Ida Korsström