Elolliset

A play about facing the concept of extinction.

"Steller's sea cow, Stellers sjöko, Hydrodamalis gigas: The first animal that forced humanity to reflect on our actions."

The skeleton of a Steller's sea cow stands in the exhibition hall of Helsinki’s Museum of Natural History. The bones have journeyed there through several centuries and across the globe. Their story  intertwines both the history of imperialism and the rise of the modern conservation movement.

Elolliset invites us on an expedition that backtracks all the way to the starting point of the concept of extinction. The performances traces how the peoples of the Western world realized our crushing capacity to wipe out both individual creatures as well as entire species. On stage a museum is constructed and deconstructed. Its displays offer us a glimpse into the past, where the first waves of the sixth mass extinction once arrived on a faraway shore.

Elolliset looks at the events of the sixth mass extinction blamelessly, but without evading responsibility. With a playful and wistful gaze, it considers humanity’s confidence in its own intellect and our feverish search for the truth. The performance asks: what are the beliefs that we now consider absolute and self-evident, but which future ages may yet prove wrong?

Iida Turpeinen's novel Elolliset is the most successful Finnish debut novel of all time. Published in 2022, it won the Helsingin Sanomat debut prize, was shortlisted for the Finlandia Prize, appeared on the New York Times historical fiction reading list, and its translations will span nearly 30 languages. The stage adaptation of the book has been written by Pipsa Lonka, and the artistic design of the performance is by WAUHAUS arts collective. WAUHAUS is an award-winning Helsinki-based multidisciplinary arts collective, known for their comprehensive audiovisual stage aesthetics and methods of shared authorship.