”Very harsh, I’m telling you, to an eye that’s looked out of these windows all its life.”
A Little Money is Sirkku Peltola’s story about Jason, a man who has lived his whole life in the hems of his attentive mother in a remote village. The mentally disabled Jason cannot manage without his mother, while his mother, who suffers from weak legs, cannot manage without her son. Their widowed neighbor Ilse helps Jason’s mother whenever there’s need. An important point of stability in Jason’s life is his weekly bus trip to the small town nearby. Small recurring rituals bring a sense of safety to the trip. Life feels good enough to live.
Jason takes meticulous care of his mother’s bank card, makes the agreed purchases, and eats his weekly jam doughnut, routinely but contently. One day everything changes, as Jason stumbles upon two outsiders, Mikki and Vaness, on his trip. This new encounter turns Jason’s life completely around. Soon everyone sees that there is no returning to their former lives.
A Little Money is a story about being different and everyday affection. Sirkku Peltola describes big issues from the perspective of the small individual. In A Little Money, people have the internal need to carry on through life.
Roles: Women 3, men 4.
JASON
We’re on the bench.
BOY
That’s right.
JASON
Nothing to be afraid of.
BOY
Okay.
JASON
Mother’s waiting.
BOY
Why don’t you go, then?
JASON
I’m pretty late.
BOY
Are you gonna get in trouble?
JASON
I might.
BOY
Bet not.
JASON
Why?
BOY
Is your mama big?
JASON
Yes.
BOY
Well then maybe.
JASON
I was supposed to buy cigarettes.
BOY
Why don’t you buy some?
JASON
The bank machine won’t give me any money. Insufficient funds.
BOY
Well then.
JASON
That’s going to make Mother madder.
BOY
Cause you didn’t buy cigarettes?
JASON
Right.
BOY
You’re screwed.
JASON
I think so too.
English translation of the play by Doug Robinson
