New Plays from Finland

Playwright and dramaturge Emil Santtu Uuttu's play, The Lovely Daughter Erika – Notes on a Name, is a complex tapestry that explores memory and the ethics of historical research in the context of transhistory. The play is based on a local story written down by Mauno Malmgren and sent to the archives of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS). Malmberg wrote: "he was happy to be called Erika, but sorry to be called Kustaa."   

The play prompts us to reflect on what we can know and imagine from archival material. The play explores the ways in which memories have been collected and how researchers at different times have used notes about Erika in their work – and who this Erika really was. The play also makes visible the changing language used to refer to sexual and gender minorities and the significance of this change.   

The documentary, which premiered in the archives of the Finnish Literary Society and has been part of the repertoires of the Kiasma Theatre and the Takomo Theatre, consists of an audio play, a video, historical materials and appendices. 

The Archives Day Committee awarded the work the Archive Act of the Year (Vuoden arkistoteko) in 2023.  

[....] Uuttu's work is groundbreaking. By exploring the story of Erika, it sheds light on blind spots in our recent history – or on whole swathes of it.
 

Matti Tuomela, Helsingin Sanomat, September 9. 2023 

The work proceeds peacefully and systematically. It reveals how people become characters, and how researchers use already archaic terms at the time that they publish their studies. Historical material is recycled and by repeating the othering, stereotypes are strengthened. The work fights against all of this.
 

Hanna Helavuori, September 9, 2023