Poikakoodi
The family home is inhabited by the Mother, her minor Son and her adult child N. They love each other, probably, as family members often do, but they have a hard time liking each other. Everyday conversations lead time and again to the edge of conflict, as the people simultaneously search for a path to each other and away from each other.
Behind the door of his room, the Son searches for himself. He searches for male models in the outside world. The Mother tries to advise, tries to help, but the world of codes of masculinity in which the Son lives is incomprehensible to her. It is almost as difficult for her to understand her other child N and their desire to get outside of the boxes and gender definitions. She does not understand his children's humor. She does not even understand when they are joking and when they are not. She has not seen the TV series they are referring to. Sometimes she feels like she does not understand at all what is being said in her own home.
Siblings Son and N are different and disagree on many things, but they share one significant common wonder: how on earth can Mother be SO clueless?
How do you raise a boy to be a good, respectful adult in a world teeming with questionable messages about masculinity? Can a parent who grew up in a different time period even understand their children and their challenges? What codes and behavioral patterns do people carry within them – and can they let go of them?
Kati Kaartinen's play is a dense, unsparing story about the generation gap, the search for identity, and children who grow up to be different from their mothers.
