The Phantom of Normality

Saara Turunen’s The Phantom of Normality is inspired by Luis Buñuel’s 1974 film The Phantom of Liberty. Turunen’s play is a collage that explores shame and the fear of difference: what passes for ‘ordinary’, and why do we want to be as ordinary as possible? Does the expectation of ordinariness turn into an instrument of power?
The work observes the bizarre rituals and expectations of the pantomime that is everyday life in Turunen’s signature style: minimalism and perceptiveness. It pierces through the core of Finnish experiential world of cultural diffidence and minimisation of the self.

Funny and melancholy scenes vividly enhanced by imagery and music, lead the audience to reflect on norms and difference with subtlety and lightness.
The Phantom of Normality is the first part of Turunen’s Room Trilogy, but it works equally well as a stand-alone drama. The trilogy explores societal norms using a feminist lens. On stage, typically Finnish restraint and expressionlessness disguise inner smouldering. The tragic and the comic are never far apart.

The Phantom of Normality received its world premiere in April 2016 at Q-teatteri, Helsinki. The initial run was a box office smash hit and was followed up by a sold-out second season. In 2017, the work was awarded the Thalia Prize for performing arts production of the year. In 2021, the play was performed at Schauspielhaus Bochum theatre in Germany.