Rule of Law, Espoo

“I must do something dumb, but I promise I won’t get caught. No time to text now, I’m off to take care of business.”

Oikeusvaltio Espoo is a different kind of a story. It doesn’t ask, or take a view, it simply notes: it is thus. The performance is based on randomly selected case documents housed in Espoo’s Otaniemi-based Länsi-Uusimaa District Court, and it features real stories from the courtroom. The stories span a variety of human experience and destinies.

The performers are a serendipitous group. In it, there are both professional performers and regular (whatever that is) people who came forward following an open casting call.

Oikeusvaltio Espoo doesn’t romanticise, moralise, judge, accuse, or bemoan. Neither does it excuse, gloat, engage in voyeurism, reveal, or hide. It is a performance about crime and punishment, good and bad, right and wrong, mistakes and coincidences, and about what humans visit upon each other. Three words: unconscious, astonishment, compassion. Rule of law, Espoo (Oikeusvaltio Espoo) is a story about the lack of love.

"The playtext for Oikeusvaltio Espoo was born out of wonderment over Espoo. It felt easier to articulate what Espoo is not, than what it is. Espoo's core appeared to always slip away, or to be missing. In the end, we deduced it would be interesting to talk about Espoo through crime, drawing inspiration from court documents that may be read at the Länsi-Uusimaa District Court. That way, the unconscious realm of Espoo might become more accessible." - playwright Antti Hietala

Premieres on April 9, 2024, in &Revontuli