Lou Salomé

Lou Salomé is a dazzling, effervescent and fast-paced play about a woman who broke boundaries and taboos. Aina Bergroth’s script and Iiris Rannio’s direction bring audiences an extraordinary and unforgettable story about the empowering energy of a positive outlook on life, finding oneself, claiming one’s own space, and a passionate attitude towards work and life itself. A writer, philosopher and pioneering psychoanalyst known in her own time, Lou Salomé lived her entire life without regard for the role generally reserved for women. Salomé travelled around Europe and met many artists, scientists and philosophers. She was Friedrich Nietzsche’s and poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s beloved, as well as a colleague who dazzled Sigmund Freud. The play is a tribute to a forgotten pioneer and her forward-thinking ideas. In 2020, Kuopion kaupunginteatteri staged Aina Bergroth’s earlier play Tahto, about skiing legend Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. Sari Harju, who played the lead in Tahto, now appears as Lou Salomé.