A couple at home at night. “I can’t breathe”, says the woman. “She can’t breathe”, the man
repeats. They rush to the hospital. Harrowing moments ensue: she in intensive care, he
despairing and uncertain in the waiting room. Eventually, life resumes, but the lovers’ joint
journey is forever altered.
Rakastavaisten kuoro (Lovers’ Chorus) captivates from the very start. Written and directed by
Portuguese Tiago Rodrigues, it transports the audience into the core of a relationship
between two people. It is a choral play, a lyrical narrative, where, in two voices, a couple
recounts the other’s brush with death. Their versions, told side by side, are not quite the
same. The lives and memories of two individuals are monologues that only occasionally
transform into dialogue, coming together and pulling apart. The play celebrates love, vitality,
and the exceptionally strong bond between two people in a life-or-death situation.
Tiago Rodrigues directs the work in Espoo with &’s Artistic Director Jussi Sorjanen as his
assistant director. On stage, the stunning Alma Pöysti and Elmer Bäck are a revelation.
Performed in Finnish, subtitles available in Finnish and English
www.espoonteatteri.fi/en
