Thursday, July 26, 2012

FinnThunder play: Old Woman & the Barefoot Maiden

My sisters and I have been busy. Here's part three of our contribution to FinnThunder 2012, starting tomorrow. Our performance piece is a one act play. The characters are an Old Woman (Vanha Akka), Crow, a corpse, Spring Maiden, Suvi, Black Swan, Tuonen Tytti (Queen of Death/Tuonela), Spirit dancers, and a Narrator! Sat. July 28, 2 pm, Finlandia Club, Bay St. Thunder Bay. $10 or free with FinnThunder day pass or weekend pass.  
The inspiration for the Suvi summer woman who ends our play was this old book that I once found at a Finlandia Club rummage sale. It's a book of poetry from the 1940s in Finnish. The poems are wonderful old poems, all dedicated to nature, to the lakes, rivers, sky, clouds, flowers, fields, and cliffs. The book cost me either 10c or 25c. Suvi means summer, the heart of summer. I laid the book in my bed of thyme and doesn't she look pretty there!


2 comments:

Merche Pallarés said...

Congrats on your play and I hope you have great success!!!! The picture of the book is absolutely beautiful. This week in the Sunday magazine of our "El País" (national newspaper) I read a very interesting article on Finland. I liked the fact the Finnish still live close to the land, meaning, they haven't abandoned it as so many others have. They still plough and till (sp?!) as their forefathers did. Also, some live in the countryside without water or electricity. Amazing people!!! Loved the article and thought about you, your stories, and the Finns of Thunder Bay! Hugs, M.

northshorewoman said...

thanks, MP! The play was a great success and we had a wonderful time. We even got a request to perform the play at another event in town.

Wish you could have been there. I know you would have liked it---actually, you would probably have joined us and been one of the performers!

Yes, us Finns, whether in Finland, Canada or US do love the outdoors--and silence.