Milla Martikainen

— PROJECT NAME

Saimaa-trilogy. Part one: Soutajat in 2021, part two upcoming in summer 2022: Norpan aika

— ROLE

In Soutajat: Scenographer in collaboration with Pertti Martikainen

In Norpan aika: scenographer

— DATE

summers 2021-2023

— WORKING GROUP

Dramaturgy and script: Essi Rossi

Director: Joel Neves

Choreographer: Veera Lamberg

Sound designer: Janne Masalin

Scenographer: Milla Martikainen

Scenographic design and building of kinetic installation in water: Pertti Martikainen (Soutajat)

Performers:

2021: Saaristoryhmä's actors Merja Härkönen, Aino Keijonen, Erkki Luukkonen, Tuula Luukkonen, Riitta Pellava, Ilmari Pulli, Tuomo Reponen, Martti Venäläinen and Keijo Viskari

Soutajat was the first part of a three-year-long theatre project, that will produce professional summer theatre to the Puumala archipelago on three summers (2021-2023).

Soutajat was produced in collaboration with Saaristoryhmä ja Veskansan kylä ry. It was premiered in Nestorianta in Lintusalo, Puumala in July 17th.

Soutajat was an performative experience, where the audience was invited on rowing boats to the lake to meet people and other creatures that have lived in Saimaa since the ancients times. The performance asks: if Saimaa waters would have a memory, what would they remember? The performance offered a possibility to travel through layers of time with the means of theatre.

The performance was performed and observed from rowing boats. You could arrive on site with your own boat or borrow a boat from the Nestorinranta dock.

The professional artists forming the designer group for Saimaa trilogy all have some sort of connection to Puumala and Saimaa. Soutajat was their first collaboration with local amateur performers.

The next part of the trilogy, Norpan aika, will take place in summer 2022.

The work in 2021 was supported by Taike and Puumala municipality and in 2022-2023 by Kone Foundation.