Oulu market becomes immersive stage before demolition

Yle reports that an old market building in Raksila, Oulu, will become the stage for a large-scale performance before it is demolished. Faravidin maa combines theatre, contemporary circus and contemporary dance, allowing audiences to choose their own routes through the building.

The 2,900-square-metre building has reached the end of its useful life and will be demolished to make way for an experience arena. Before that, it will host the performance, which is part of Oulu2026, the city’s European Capital of Culture year. The premiere is on 27 August.

The largely wordless work follows the logic of a dream rather than a straightforward plot. It brings together northern mythology and the history of Raksila. Its characters include Akka-Queen, Kullervo, Näkki and Kärppä, who appear in spaces including a cold store, a warehouse and the building’s corridors.

Each of the 14 performers has their own route through the former market. There is no traditional auditorium, and audience members can decide where to stand and which character to follow.

“An immersive work is an adventure, like a childhood game,” says Pirjo Yli-Maunula, artistic director of Flow Productions and one of the performance’s directors. She says the audience can experience the work through several senses and interact with the performers, without being forced to participate.

Director Alma Lehmuskallio says the audience will not be able to take in everything happening around them and should focus on the situation in front of them. For her, playfulness is at the heart of the production.

The performance explores happiness: what it is, where people look for it and why it sometimes has to be hidden. Lehmuskallio says she has considered how happiness arises from a connection with another person.

Dancer Viivi Forsman describes the movement in the performance as a roller coaster covering a wide emotional range. She says dance can reach places that words or other forms of expression may not.

Forsman has previously worked on site-specific dance productions and considers the large market building an unusual environment for dance. She says the body takes time to adapt to its surroundings and materials.

Faravidin maa is a joint production by Oulu Theatre and Flow Productions, made in cooperation with Oulu2026 and the Dutch Still Still.

The work is Lehmuskallio’s farewell production as artistic director of Oulu Theatre. During her seven-year term, the theatre has set a ticket-sales record for the third consecutive year. She says she has grown attached to the people at the theatre and has given it everything she can, while believing that the change has come at the right time.