Kirjeitä kuolemalle
Kirjeitä kuolemalle - Dear Death
(Briefly in English)
Kirjeitä kuolemalle - Dear Death
is a solo theatre performance by Kati Keskihannu.
Its subjects are a child's illness, fear of dying
and death.
The premiere was in Turku, Finland, on the 1st of October 2017. Since then we've toured with the performance, for several kinds of organisations for patients and healthcare professionals. The performance can be booked nationwide in Finland.
The event’s purpose is to serve as a tool for communication, for example for the relatives and friends of a family with a child who has a long-term illness, or to help a school class of children, when one of their mates has died.
An essential part of the performance is an art workshop, counselled by Kati Keskihannu, together with an occupational therapist specialised in the process of children's grief, or a local crisis counsellor.
What, Why & How?
A girl called Käpy is a character who allows both: distancing and identifying with the subject. Her questions are real, and although the situation on stage is untrue, the feelings it offers are genuine.
Dear Death is empowering for the audience, because it doesn't allow fear to prevail. It's a free space for straightforward questions and various views of death.
In the audience it's safe to experiment, ponder, feel empathy and experience.
In her acting Keskihannu uses also clowning elements. The character’s nosetip is painted white, and there are white dots under her eyes. Käpy is not a foolish clown, the character is a theatrical role more than just acting silly.
Also a clown's eyes reflect the soul, and in this show we want the audience to get very close. Therefore we let them hear even the most deepest secrets of Käpy-girl. The character’s thoughts are heard pre-recorded.
Käpy's emotions reach far and wide, diverse, nuanced and genuine. There's worry, doubt, joy, play, achievements, surrendering, questioning, resistance, hatred and acceptance. Just as in real life when big questions seek answers. In the theatre we can look honestly at the hardest of themes, without being harsh or cruel. This is made possible by using the language of a child and her playing - the language that makes anything possible. There's a scene of Käpy playing out her own funeral. In another she's pretending to fly wearing her light-up-sneakers.
The performance happens under a canopy made of projector canvas, the shape of half a dome. The background animation combining collage technique, drawings, photos and videos, plus the music composed for the performance, support the solo actor's work. All that together creates a 50-minute play using many techniques of storytelling. A stage piece, that says things, which words are not always enough for.