Lolo pic crop editedPATIENT FILE: DOLORES DE LA LUZ CALDERÓN.
YOUNG WOMAN. FOUND WANDERING ALONE IN THE DESERT.
DELUSIONS CONCERNING THE PHONE.
PERSISTENTLY A RESTLESS CASE.

A rainy afternoon twenty years ago. Somewhere between Barcelona and Zaragoza. A young Mexican woman named Lola comes in to use the phone after her car has broken down. At least this is what she tells the people she meets inside.

The Finn-Brit Players invite you on a madness-provoking journey into a place where the most innocent request is met with suspicion and concern. After all, if you alone knew the truth, how could you convince anyone else of what was real? How could you convince yourself? After enough time, anyone would go crazy.

“Phones, phones, phones... Sometimes I get the feeling that we are nothing but phones anymore, we people. Do you ever feel like that?”

Written and directed by Jarkko Mikkola.

CAST
Lola – Sarah Puukka
Sempronio – Kheba Touray
Dr Ortega – Ann-Marie Walsh
Humilio – Dish Eldishnawy

The play is inspired by the short story Sólo vine a hablar por teléfono by Gabriel García Márquez from his collection Doce cuentos peregrinos.

PERFORMANCES at the NoName Theatre
Sun 12 June at 7 pm
Tues 14 June at 7 pm
Weds 15 June at 7 pm
Thurs 16 June at 7 pm
Fri 17 June at 7 pm
Sat 18 June at 7 pm

 

 buy tickets logo tcrbTICKETS
 16.00€ – standard admission
 12.80€ – Concessions (students, retired, military/civil service, unemployed)
 12.80€ – FBP, FINNBRIT, MEETUP & Internations members

 Available HERE in our Holvi store.

Zachariah Chamberlaine is the author of Going Viral, one of the short plays in Happy Hour – four short comedies. He tells us a little bit about the theme of the play:

Buy buy Buy crop“Somewhat ironically, I’m writing this post to advertise my play on the topic of how I hate advertising. Maybe I should clarify that statement a little – how I hate annoyingly aggressive advertising. I don’t mind being made subtly aware of things that may interest me in a way that I can easily choose to ignore. But I detest telemarketing, pop-ups, and the seemingly endless commercials that gatekeep content.

I remember when an online news site announced that they would stop forcing people to watch commercials before being allowed to access news about the Ukraine war, because it had been deemed ‘somewhat insensitive’. Too bloody right! But to be honest, I think forcing people to watch adverts before they can access all kinds of other information is pretty deplorable, too. For me, the question we should be asking ourselves is, when does advertising go from being ‘a useful piece of info for the ordinary person’ to ‘an irritating imposition on our daily lives’? And also, what should be done to halt its insidious march into our devices and minds?

When I was writing ‘Going Viral’, I asked myself the question ‘what next?’ with regard to overly in-your-face advertising. I could envisage various hideous scenarios, but as this was planned to be only a twenty-minute play, I picked one and ran with it. Which one, you may ask. Well, in traditional ‘loot box’ style, you’ll have to come to the show to find out 😉”

Brief Encounter Miriam websiteJessica Calonius plays Miriam in Brief Encounter, one of the short plays in Happy Hour – four short comedies. Miriam is a celebrity author, but Jessica's own feelings about fame are a bit different:

"In my free time I like to feel inconspicuous. Yet Helsinki is SO small that anyone and everyone becomes famous with time. At least in your own neighbourhood. Once on the local train, a total stranger informed me I look exactly like my brother.

Miriam is renowned for her pop-psych literary works, and on the train journey in Brief Encounter she's accosted by an avid admirer. The consequences? Come see!!

By luck and coincidence I became a performer in my fifties - a drama teacher saw the performer on the stage frightened me. I did three years of drama studies at Snellman Korkeakoulu and three years of poetry performance studies with maestro Martti Mäkelä. I've mainly done half-hour poetry solos, but have also acted in numerous Finnish and English plays and sung in various musical ensembles. Participating in the Finn-Brit Players' Poetry & Jazz show is my long-time favourite, and last October was great doing Orange Alert!"

Photo: Anni Taponen

Zachariah Chamberlaine is the author of Please Do Take Offence, one of the short plays in Happy Hour – four short comedies. He tells us a little bit about his approach to playwriting:

Caller website“When I write plays – and short plays or sketches in particular – I usually place very few limitations on casting. For example, the dramatis personae will usually read something like ‘CALLER – any age, any gender’. I also tend to include very few specific stage directions or character notes in the script, other than things that are vital to the plot. This is because I prefer to develop the details in rehearsal with the actors on the basis of the lines themselves. As in, what kind of characters are naturally born and raised from the lines as we start reading through the scenes.

I do have some kind of basic vision of the piece and characters when we start, but I’m also interested to see the direction in which an actor will take a character within the framework of my vision. And also inspired by the slightly different versions of the play that this will give rise to. This will, of course, happen with any play to an extent, but fewer limitations will leave room for more varied interpretations.

In Please Do Take Offence, I play the customer service rep, which is essentially the bland straight man role that is largely a foil to the Caller, who is the real ‘character’ of the play. Which means that I have a fairly easy time of it in terms of character, as anyone who has worked with customer complaints knows that your job is primarily to listen: to remain calm and polite, and largely put your own personality on hold for the duration of the call.

But when it came to the Caller, I let Solomon Marttila go to town, and gave him pretty much free rein to decide what this weirdo was going to look and sound like. Come and see where our journey took us….”

Photo: Anni Taponen

Brief Encounter bloke websiteBranislav Đaković plays the Man from Brief Encounter, one of the short plays in Happy Hour – four short comedies. He tells us a little bit about how he and his character differ:

"Did you ever want to meet your favourite artist? The MAN from the play was thrilled when he met his favourite writer, but came to realise that it was not the best idea that he’d had in his life. I am completely juxtaposed with him, and although I’ve met some of my favourite musicians, writers and other kind of artists, I never had the courage (or curiosity) to bother them or to openly admire and praise them, because I was maybe afraid that I would be disappointed... (Although my children love it when they meet their favourite famous persons, and they take photos with them and show their excitement)... Or maybe I’m just jealous because I’m not famous?

I finished drama academy in Belgrade for theater and radio directing, directed several radio and theater plays and performances in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also played in several... and once, when some unknown child approached me on the street and said that I was great in the children’s play, I felt like I‘d won the prestigious actors award...

I was raised on good English humor (Ealing comedies, Monty Python, Only Fools and Horses, Blackadder)… and for me the opportunity to act in English in a good English play is more than a reward. But if you like it and meet me on the street, feel free to bother me, I hope I will not disappoint you."

Photo: Anni Taponen