Well-Off People

The return of a forgotten, masterful Lahti writer

There is Veijo, who dreams of writing a doctoral thesis and decides to buy a house beyond his budget, where the book is sure to get finished. There is Annikki, waging war against her impractical husband’s castles in the air. And there is Kaisu, who resembles a certain Lahti writer and is trying to create significant art without caring about the gatekeepers. There are generations passing away and coming into their own, with their intersecting ideas and hopes, as well as the tangible, real world, which insists on imposing harsh limits on dreamers.

Well-Off People is not only a play about dreams and the pressures of everyday life, but also about money and ownership. It is a precise portrait of the times and the circumstances that make one person small and another a giant. It ranges across all the shades of life, from recognisable anxiety to black humour.

Well-Off People is a production based on Kerttu-Kaarina Suosalmi’s 1969 novel. It is about the 1960s and middle-aged, middle-class people who, by all rights, ought to be doing well. Yet none of them is satisfied.

Premiere: 14 October 2026
Small Stage

Author: Kerttu-Kaarina Suosalmi
Dramatisation: Iira Halttunen
Director: Laura Mattila
Set design: Tiina Hauta-aho
Costume design: Riina Leea Nieminen
Lighting design: Jouni Nykopp
Sound design: Jukka Vierimaa
Video design: Tiina Hauta-aho
Makeup design: Anu Reijonen

Cast: Tomi Enbuska, Jori Halttunen, Teemu Palosaari, Anna Pitkämäki, Mikko Pörhölä, Aki Raiskio, Nenna Tyni, Henna Wallin

Photo: Raana Lehtinen
Running time: approx. 2 hr 10 min, including an interval

In cooperation with: Kirjailija magazine and the KIDE Centre for the Promotion of Literature
Performance rights: Agency North Oy

The documentary Kirjailijakuvia about Kerttu-Kaarina Suosalmi is available to watch through Kirjailija magazine.