Finlandia to present "Women of Niskavuori" Oct. 22-25

HANCOCK -- The Finlandia University fall play, Women of Niskavuori (or Niskavuoren Naiset), directed by Melvin Kangas, will be performed Oct. 22 to 25 at the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock.

The Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening performances (Oct. 22, 23 and 24) begin at 7:30 p.m. The Sunday matinee, Oct. 25, begins at 2:30 p.m.

The play was written in 1936 by Hella Wuolijoki. It is a well-known Finnish play and since the year 2000 has been staged over 40 times in Finland.

Hella Wuolijoki, author of Women of Niskavuori (or Niskavuoren Naiset), Finlandia's fall play, directed by Melvin Kangas. It will be presented Oct. 22-25 in the Finnish American Heritage Center. (Photo courtesy Oren Tikkanen)

The play’s story is one of power, complicated love relations and conflict between the traditional and the modern. Set against the background of the Niskavuori family estate, the play is the first of several plays that follow the events of the Niskavuori family.

Pasi Lautala says, "thanks to Melvin Kangas and crew, [this play] will be performed for the first time in English (at least that we know of)."

It is a brand-new translation and production of the 1936 Finnish play, according to Oren Tikkanen.

"Hella Wuolijoki, 1886-1954, was one of the most colorful personalities in 20th-century Finland," Tikkanen says. "She was a powerful and wealthy woman who headed up successful lumber and petroleum businesses on the one hand and wrote left-wing plays on the other."

Tikkanen points out other contradictions in Wuolijoki's life, which is the subject of a new biographical film, Hella W, currently in production in Finland, with a release date of 2011.

"She was Estonian by birth, but was a passionate Finn," Tikkanen notes. "Her hard-headed capitalism brought her riches, but she turned her swank apartment and country estate into meeting-places for revolutionaries. She was tried for treason because of contact with a Soviet spy -- reportedly to start peace talks -- and was condemned to death, but her sentence was commuted, and by 1946 she was elected to Parliament. Later, she was named as the director of Finnish Broadcasting; and, although she was committed to the working class, she banned Hiski Salomaa's workingman's song, 'Lännen Lokari,' from the radio."

Tickets are $5 per person (free for Finlandia students with I.D.) and may be purchased at the door prior to the performances. For additional information, please contact Melvin Kangas at 906-487-7250.