Faravid’s Land

Combining theatre, contemporary circus and contemporary dance, Faravid’s Land is set in Oulu’s legendary Raksila market district, which at its peak even surpassed Helsinki’s Stockmann in grocery sales. The Eka-market building has now reached the end of its useful life. It is to be demolished, and in the future the area will be home to a long-awaited new source of joy and pride: an experience arena, a centre promising bliss and vitality for all of northern Finland. So, could the source of Oulu’s happiness be hiding in Raksila? Is that where it was buried? Faravid’s Land is a journey from the remains of the market to ancient Northern Ostrobothnia, and a myth about seekers and keepers of happiness. What is happiness, really? In this dreamlike experience, possible guides include Akka-Queen, master of old and new spells; Kärppä, a local spirit animal; or Kaamos itself. The work’s mythological fiction and its fascinating creatures merge with a market building that has seen better days, where echoes also linger of the history of Sale, Alko and flea-market activity. Faravid’s Land invites audiences not only to be awed by the skills of 14 actors, dancers and circus artists, but also to cast spells for happiness, banish misfortune, say goodbye to the Raksila market and welcome the eccentric experience arena before the experience arena. Age-old questions and mythical landscapes unfold throughout the emptied building in this immersive performance, where audiences are free to choose their own path towards fulfilment—a goal pursued with cunning, invoked with grandeur and quietly felt to be shameful. A myth is a story or belief that explains things for which there is no firsthand knowledge or whose truth cannot be proven. Happiness is a remarkable thing, and according to statistics there is a great deal of it in the City of Oulu. Faravid’s Land is written by Eira Virekoski and directed by Alma Lehmuskallio and Pirjo Yli-Maunula. The production is a co-production by Oulun teatteri and Flow Productions, in collaboration with Oulu2026 and still still (NED).