Kokkola
Kokkola is a crazy, coarse and moving play which doesn't fit any genre, just as its characters don't fit into typical moulds. With two friends, Piano Larsson is running a human forwarding firm, which helps people in various kinds of trouble, transporting them by bus. Marja-Terttu Zeppelin, a bouncer, dreams of travelling to Greenland, but is forced to flee to the sea ice. Her brother Saku and his wife are practising infant care with the help of a doll, though his wheelchair-bound wife cannot resist the slightest temptation to taunt her husband. Marja-Terttu's daughter, Maura, has fallen in love with Piano's girlfriend, Minna. In Kokkola, a woman turns into a seal, relationships are terminated by dictaphone, and people show their love by taking a beating. Its characters are dead serious both about love and their own bitterness. The play does not follow the familiar practices of good dramaturgy, but lives on stage according to its own rules. Its robust language and repeated use of male nudity require a great deal of courage from both its performers and the audience, but underneath lies a rough beauty and arctic, cold sensitivity. In 2005, Kokkola was awarded as the Play of the Year in Finland.
"It is essential to and entirely in keeping with our business concept that we develop the attitude that we work even if there isn't any. All the work that hasn't already been staked out by somebody else is ours."
