The Ghost Sonata – Aavesonaatti

Nothing is what it seems in the exhilaratingly ghastly world of The Ghost Sonata. It is all magic and buffoonery, cruelty and fragility, haziness and clarity. Fireworks go off as the play’s theme pivots on its absurdity. Betrayal and self-delusion rule supreme at intersections of innocent naivety and bitterness, dreams and disappointment, hate and fear. Webs of money and financial servitude entangle one and all.

The Old Man Hummel has decided to play Fate and he manipulates the ambitious Student into acting as his proxy. A dreamlike surge is followed by a series of crashes; secrets are revealed, dreams shattered, winners lose and losers win.

The Ghost Sonata is a journey into a world of deceit, wrongdoing, and escalating pretence. Complexity of life, its messiness and tedium, man’s brittle illusions and tender dreams are upended in the cold light of day. The play is a devilishly sharp critique of the human condition and a fitting mirror to our time.

August Strindberg, an unmatched narrator of human folly, broke new ground with both the form and the content of the play, and paved way for expressionist drama and absurdist theatre.

Nationally and internationally acclaimed director Laura Jäntti adapts and directs Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata at Espoo City Theatre. Three phenomenal performers, actor-mime-clown Siri Hamari, dancer-actor-singer Janne Marja-aho, and a pioneer of physical theatre Ana-Yrsa Falenius, rise to the challenge and lend their multifaceted virtuoso talent and compelling skills to task.

Performers Ana-Yrsa Falenius, Siri Hamari, Janne Marja-aho
Adaptor and director Laura Jäntti
Translator Lauri Sipari
Set Designer Milja Salovaara
Light designer Joonas Tikkanen
Sound designer Tommi Koskinen
Make-up Shina Sirén
Producer Suvi Ahoniemi
Press photos Stefan Bremer

Co-produced by Ulappa Productions and Espoo City Theatre
Supported by the Finnish Cultural Fund, the Swedish Cultural Fund in Finland, and the Oskar Öflund Fund.