ARTIST IN RESIDENCE | September-October 2019
FUSION AIR / Artist-In-Residence Program presents
Veikko Nuutinen (Finland)

VEIKKO NUUTINEN
website


Veikko Nuutinen’s (b. 1981) plays are characterized by hidden, inexplicable threat. From beneath the protective layers of everyday life, something dark and incontrollable is gradually exposed.

Nuutinen finds the violence in words and gestures. He brings hidden meanings to the surface subtly yet incisively. At the same time, he depicts the current, media-saturated world without moralizing, while still posing tough moral questions. Nuutinen’s works are complex and potent theatre experiences that side-skirt simplicities and easy answers. They compel those of us who are doing just fine, who consider ourselves progressive and open-minded, to face that side of ourselves and the world whose existence we don’t usually care to admit.

Compassion (2010) is a portrayal of a family whose life is thrown into turmoil by the son’s affinity for visions of violence. The disappearance and death of his friend arouses hidden demons in both parents and teachers. To what extent does genuine compassion exist anymore? The play, which takes its inspiration from recent school shootings in Finland, is perfectly suited to younger audiences as well.
 
Bruce Willis Saves the World (2011), written with Riko Saatsi, examines heroism and its flipside. The play taps the character of Bruce Willis to ask what it means to be a hero nowadays, and what is the personal cost? Permeated by a black humour, the text is a cross-section of life in a world that constantly demands we surpass ourselves and our limitations. Since its debut at the Tampere Theatre Festival, the performance has toured the Théâtre de la Place in Liège, Belgium and the Mettre en Scène festival in Rennes, France.


Paras mahdollinen maailma ja hyviä ehdotuksia vieläkin paremmasta (The Best of All Possible Worlds and Some Good Suggestions for Even a Better One, 2014) is a sharp and funny study of dreams and morality. It takes as its starting point the old ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and applies them to the contemporary world in a perceptive way.

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