Leea Klemola

Aurinkoteatteri ('the Sun Theatre') returns to Kiasma with a new premiere, Natural. It is ostensibly a story about an extended family from the middle of nowhere who start for a budget holiday in the sun, but in fact the trip is just a means to get the people together. Natural is not based on the plot or the characters, but on different feelings or atmospheres, just like the other productions by Aurinkoteatteri.

What have you been up to since Seksuaali?

I made a film, Pelon maantiede ('Geography of Fear'), with director Auli Mantila. Then I've been writing new stuff with Pentti Halonen, and of course working on Natural with Aurinkoteatteri.

What is Natural about?

I don't know. In a way it's a film noir about package trips to the south, we're constantly teetering on the edge of bad taste.

What kind of theatre is Aurinkoteatteri?

It was founded in 1989 with the basic idea that anybody can be creative, not just directors or scriptwriters. We can do what we want to, and also take risks. Aurinkoteatteri combines the idea of freedom with an authority phobia. The concept of a theatre without a facility of its own has worked well, though now we have started a loose union, Universum, with similar performing groups - Sirius, Venus, and Mars. Universum will have a stage that all the groups can use at their own pace and without financial pressure.

Could you imagine yourself working in an institutional theatre?

They say that there are only two reasons for acting: money and pleasure. An institutional theatre gives you neither of them. Pleasure also includes having the freedom to take risks and stake everything on one card. If you fail, you're left with nothing. You don't have this opportunity in a repertory theatre. Acting on television is paid so well just because you get totally robbed of your freedom. A kind of blood money.

You are a director, a scriptwriter, and an actress both on the stage and the screen. How do all these roles differ from one another?

I like scriptwriting best, it's the purest form of creating. I've only written with Pentti Halonen, but all the same I've felt sheer pleasure of inventing. I guess that's why we write together. The role of the director is the most rational one. I don't consider myself as a professional director, since I've only directed one text not written by me. I'm poor at understanding other people's texts. But what fascinates me in directing is the freedom. You're only accountable to yourself. Acting is scary: you're constantly the object of everybody's gaze. The relationship with the director is important to me both in film and on the stage, particularly in film, where schedules are tight and there's less room to move about. If my communication with the director breaks down, I have to give up my researcher's role and my ideas won't be heard. On the stage everything is easier, since every play is rehearsed for a couple of months at least.

You have had demanding roles both on the stage and the screen. How can you leave the roles behind when you go home to your children?

I really cannot answer that, since I don't quite feel that way. I'm the same person at work and at home. For example, my character in Neitoperho ('Peacock Butterfly') was demanding, but I don't think she was an aggressive character. She was a bit harsh and unfriendly, and often behaved badly, but she also had a great sense of humour. A person who can hit someone on the head with a frying pan without realising that it is wrong cannot feel anything. That kind of person feels no anger or aggression. As a matter of fact, my five-month-old baby was with me in the shootings of Neitoperho, and I didn't see any inconsistency there.

What are your working methods like?

I try to avoid any kind of method.

What would you not do at any price on the stage?

Well, I wouldn't like to be a muse, for one thing. I wouldn't mind acting a person who wants to be somebody's muse, but I don't want to play a muse. Can you see the difference?

Is there anything any more that would shock people?

I don't know whether it's necessary to shock people. Seksuaali was not meant to shock anyone, but to bring relief. I myself feel greatly relieved at seeing a plump 50-year old woman naked on the stage. But I guess you could shock people by attacking the audience, or cutting your arm off…with all kinds of absurdities.

Is it easy to make people think?

It's easy to make me think. Perhaps one of the values in a good piece of work is whether it makes people think. I just saw the Star Wars episodes IV to VI and had a lot of brain activity for several days.

What for you is a good life?

A good life is one that you feel you've chosen yourself. A good life includes relationships that last for a lifetime. It includes people whom you know so well that you don't have to think about them.

What would you like to improve in your own life?

I seem to be using the left part of my brain most of the time, probably because I'm the mother of two small children. I'm so rational it's driving me crazy. I'll have to find some sort of a balance for using the whole of my brain.

Piia Laita