TOURING

BEGINNING: Tuesday, 30.09.14. Time: 6.16am. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Tour begins. Flock forms.

One would think it is easier to travel with 9 people doing their best to take care of things than when travelling alone. Well, it is not. Much gratitude for a coordinator. KÄYKÖ. SENKIN RÖYKKIÖ. No, nyt käy.  

Destination: Basel, Switzerland. Through Frankfurt: the last remaining passengers are asked to approach the gate. Gate is closing. Stop drinking complementary coffee.

The challenge in Basel: find the entry to the right country, there are three possibilities: Switzerland, France and Germany, or? ---

Luggage: Guitar pedals, cable. Cooking plate.  Metronome.  KISSAN KÄSI PUTOAA. Frying pan. Amplifier. Bikini. Kettle. Tram. Bus. Luggage. Walk to the river. Funny rabbits hovering on top of the water. Jugendherberge. New York loft style kaboom.

Revelation in the rooms before the first rehearsal: we don’t have Swiss adapters. Swiss adapters! Micro panic! We need electricity!

Literaturhaus Basel: warm welcome. Very nice to arrive. Adapters organized, oranges, minced meat, cups and plates, knife, a take away cup.  Extension cords, tables. Chairs. All accommodated, no problem. Phew.

Sounds: check. Dog in the audience: check. (We told the dog there would be screaming in the show. Dog: ok.)

Tension. Anticipation. Backstage. Last changes. Last positions. Premiere atmosphere.

Show: excitement, applause, cabaret, no mistakes, a good atmosphere. A big relief and a feeling of: so, IT HAS BEGUN. Let’s see where this trip takes us.

Still on the first and a very long day:

Dinner. Prosecco. Then: shower, 4 hours sleep, yoga, green tea, breakfast, everybody dance now. Flock in time at the reception at 9.00.

Thanks to the open-minded audience and our caring hosts:  Kathrin Eckert, Marianne Bühler, Leena Maissen and everyone else.

Next stop: Stuttgart.

1.10.14 STUTTGART

“I told you Stuttgart would be difficult”, Satu said.

A huge commercial Theaterhaus in Stuttgart in bright red and black. A steaming crowd of hundreds of culture-hungry theater-goers queuing in anticipation of neue finnische Literatur. Right? Unfortunately, not quite the majority found their way to T4. Some of our audience got disoriented because in the Stuttgarter Nachrichten the location was said to be Literaturhaus. O well. Avant-garde looks not at numbers. TE ETTE TIETENKÄÄN OLE ÄITINI, TEIDÄN EI TARVITSE KUUNNELLA TÄLLAISTA. Second performance: OK. Fire alarm did not go off and the whole house was not evacuated. That was a definite plus. T4 was very cosy and dramatic and sounds were beautiful. Matti ate the hackfleisch with gusto. Much gratitude to Maria.

Customary dinner. Riesling was excellent. Shower was ok. Riesling was excellent. VÄLIAIKAINEN TUNNELMA. Noise from the street. Snoring. 3 hours sleep. Yoga, green tea. Breakfast. Flock almost in time...

U-Bahn. Train. Destination: Zürich.

Thanks to an excited audience, yes, you, Literaturhaus and Stephanie Stegman, Theaterhaus and Wolfgang Marmulla.

2.10.14 ZÜRICH

Switzerland. Again.

Luggage, again. This time pushing the suitcases from the station half a kilometer towards the sky.  Of course. Hotel Leoneck and Restaurant Crazy Cow. Somewhere a cow is always laughing. And hey! The first two free hours before the rehearsal and sound check. Meaning: sleep, bath tub, shopping, eating, museum, exercise, internet, telephone calls, sushi, laundry.

Vibrant Zürich, euro league football local team Zürich VS. Mönchengladbach. Riot police, public urination, howling fans, what a lucky day.  Bisous, kisses and Küsse all around! Because you are thirsty for avant-garde!

Literaturhaus secret roof terrasse for some, fetching of take-away cup (stage sounds!) for others. Great view over the city towards the lake; many of us want to come and check the city out later on a holiday. Matti wants to play rock’n roll; the others are melting because the gig was great and the audience touched. DRIPPING OF JOY!

Show feels to have taken a life of its own. We don’t know where it is going and that’s ok.

Italian dinner Santa Lucia quatro stagione pretty good I tell you.

Thanks to the brilliant audience and to the hosts for the invitation and vivid discussions:  Gesa Schneider und Isabelle Vonlanthen!

Before bedtime: Safari Bar, bier, shower, terrace conversation, the opposite hotel entrance: yellow-green flower-pots and flowers look like oversized microphones. HÄNEN OLI TÄYTYNYT KULKEA KUIN UNISSAKÄVELIJÄ, MUTTA HÄN OLI AIVAN HEREILLÄ. PÄHKÄHULLU, VAUHKO NAINEN.

During the night a POLTERGEIST-moment: an amplifier starts performing the routine on its own without electricity and without signal. An alarm goes off 4 hours early in sync with the amplifier. The zeitgeist cannot get enough of neue finnische literatur, it seems. Someone sleeps with the lights on. NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA NOLLA 3. 

Morning: breakfast in Crazy Cow, boiled eggs for the road. Descending back down from the sky to the station.

Finally a day off…! – means: train, bus, train, train, Graz. KYSE EI OLE RANGAN ASENNOISTA VAAN SISÄÄNPÄIN PULLISTUNEISTA HUOKAUKSISTA.  Lots of peanuts, bananas, bread, bread, bread. Mountains, rivers… we are in Austria. Rivers look like mineral water. MINÄ KERRON MIKÄ PITKÄ JUOKSU ON.

IHANA IHANA IHANA IHANA

UNELMA

 , 

– Satu

– Matti