Kipukynnys
Ansku is a promising young high school swimmer, in a constant battle with pain. She even swims in her sleep. Now she must decide whether she’s going to shoot for the top, or live a normal life. But after her first plunge into the pool, it follows her everywhere. The swimming pool is another world, outside of time and space, populated by figures from the past and her subconscious: Tomi, a promising swimmer who tragically drowned, and Swimming Champion, the embodiment of competitive swimming, who shows himself only to a select few.
Pain Threshold is a magical-realistic play about the pain and ecstasy of sport, the sacrifices that people make to get ahead, and the kinds of addictions it can lead to. The play is an example of how pain and beauty sometimes melt seamlessly together, mixing external and internal reality into a dizzying theatrical vision.
”If you decide to be a Swimmer then that becomes the cornerstone of your life. You are first and foremost a swimmer, everything else is secondary. You have to give up on being human.”
This play has been translated into English, French and Spanish.
