Faravid’s Land

A Story of Oulu’s Mythical Past 

“He who knows not from where he comes, does not know where he is going; for he also does not know where he is.” – Bengt Pohjanen, The Realm of Faravid. 

Faravid’s Land takes place in the mythical Kvenland. Through its mix of fantasy and imagined realities the work takes on such themes as stories and storytelling, roots, identity, and locality. It tells the tale of ruthless and at times desperate survival. What bargains are we willing to strike with ourselves and our environment to find and keep happiness? Do we not miss a ruler to reign over us? Or, in their absence, do we not want at least some comforting or amusing tale that would explain our world and make it all right? 

In the world of myths, the boroughs of Oulu, well-worn sayings, the spirits and giants of a lost place as well as the local fauna–humans included–are all searching for their origins. To escape Kalevala only to end up in Shit Towne. How? The immersive form gives every viewer the chance to create their own origin myth by following the paths of their choosing. The way is paved in turn by an all-encompassing Darkness and unruly laughter which dispels it. 

A myth is a story or a belief that explains things we have no first-hand knowledge of, or which we have no way of verifying. 

Faravid’s Land is a work that combines theatre, dance, and contemporary circus to create a semi-fictional, mythical past for Oulu and Northern Finland. It is written by Eira Virekoski and directed by Alma Lehmuskallio and Pirjo Yli-Maunula. It is an immersive performance (ie. the audience is an active participant in a performance that unfolds all around them) that will not be performed in the theatre, but instead in a previously unseen performance space within the city.  

The initial inspiration for Faravid’s Land was Bengt Pohjanen’s book The Realm of Faravid, a collection of northern folklore. The tale of King Faravid is so riddled with gaps that it brought the team of creators to imagine and create more of this fictional history–as will, eventually, the audience. 

Faravid’s Land is a large-scale, site-specific immersive performance that is created in cooperation between Oulu Theatre, Flow Productions, and Finnish and international collaborators. 

Oulu is the European Capital of Culture for the year 2026. Faravid’s Land is part of the Oulu2026 cultural programme and cultural climate change. 

Artistic team

Cast

Team

Galleria