CANCELLED: Calamari Union 2 – Megastar
The performance is inspired by the movie Calamari Union created by Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki.
It presents an absurd journey in the streets of Helsinki. A few men named Frank decide to travel from their residential area Kallio to the other end of the city, residential are Eira. These working class men, sympathizing with the beatnik movement, move from the industrial Kallio to the luxurious Eira in groups, hoping to find paradise there. The majority of Franks die during their travel through the city and only two Franks reach the desired coast. However, upon reaching Eira, they discover that the area is polluted and crowded with houses – they are too late.
Calamari Union 2. Megastar is to some extent the second part of the movie and the version of such journey today. At the end of the film the two Franks leave for Estonia by boat. In the performance, these characters’ children are trying to return from Estonia to Finland, as, according to their dads, life is more colourful and fulfilling there. The children of working class men grew up in a liberal, increasingly progressive world but now they feel unhappy for living conditions are too reliable; They seek for entertainment, dirt and adventures. All of this they hope to find in Helsinki, the city their dads traveled through to experience so many adventures. Eira, at the end of Kaurismäki’s film, does not meet the Franks’ expectations. Nowadays, we call it gentrification – cities and its parts change appearance and people who created an authentic vibe of the place are urged out of their home by those more solvent, more influential members of society. The performance offers to consider opportunities of the gentrification of ideas.
Text and director: Augustas Gornatkevicius
Dramaturg: Anni Ihlberg
Set and costume designer: Simona Davlidovičiūtė
Composer: Jokūbas Tulaba
Lighting designer: Teemu Nurmelin
Cast: Ola Blick, Roderick Kabanga, Eeva Kaihola, Eeva Mäkinen and Tuuli Paju
Theatre Academy of the Uniarts Helsinki / Degree Programme in Acting & Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre
It presents an absurd journey in the streets of Helsinki. A few men named Frank decide to travel from their residential area Kallio to the other end of the city, residential are Eira. These working class men, sympathizing with the beatnik movement, move from the industrial Kallio to the luxurious Eira in groups, hoping to find paradise there. The majority of Franks die during their travel through the city and only two Franks reach the desired coast. However, upon reaching Eira, they discover that the area is polluted and crowded with houses – they are too late.
Calamari Union 2. Megastar is to some extent the second part of the movie and the version of such journey today. At the end of the film the two Franks leave for Estonia by boat. In the performance, these characters’ children are trying to return from Estonia to Finland, as, according to their dads, life is more colourful and fulfilling there. The children of working class men grew up in a liberal, increasingly progressive world but now they feel unhappy for living conditions are too reliable; They seek for entertainment, dirt and adventures. All of this they hope to find in Helsinki, the city their dads traveled through to experience so many adventures. Eira, at the end of Kaurismäki’s film, does not meet the Franks’ expectations. Nowadays, we call it gentrification – cities and its parts change appearance and people who created an authentic vibe of the place are urged out of their home by those more solvent, more influential members of society. The performance offers to consider opportunities of the gentrification of ideas.
Text and director: Augustas Gornatkevicius
Dramaturg: Anni Ihlberg
Set and costume designer: Simona Davlidovičiūtė
Composer: Jokūbas Tulaba
Lighting designer: Teemu Nurmelin
Cast: Ola Blick, Roderick Kabanga, Eeva Kaihola, Eeva Mäkinen and Tuuli Paju
Theatre Academy of the Uniarts Helsinki / Degree Programme in Acting & Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre