Sidekicks (2016)

“Sidekicks is a fascinating performance where the circus isn’t

illustration, but rather creates a continuity to the language.”

Isabella Rothberg, Hufvudstadsbladet, 17.11.2016

A 100-year-old wedding photograph comes to life with people stepping out of the picture: a man who loses his face, a woman who loses her leg, and an elderly person who starts misbehaving at a family dinner and eventually turns into a horse. And somebody is hanging upside down on a headboard. Atmosphere transforms from disfigured to melancholic until interrupted by sudden laughter. Sidekicks is a paintinglike creation combining modern circus and theatre, defying definition, performed by three circus artists and one actress. It is a story of a married couple, wife’s old mother and a stranger woman all dealing with their craving of being touched. The enchanting performance steals the text-based approach and dramaturgy from theatre and the absurd visuality and wild acrobatics from circus to create a magical yet touching portrayal of human relations. The lack of touch is particularly a Finnish subject nevertheless the need to be seen and touched is universally identifiable.

Sidekicks premiered in 2016 in Unesco World Heritage Site Suomenlinna’s Tenalji von Fersen, an old granary of the fortification’s bakery, built in 1775. The performance got an ecstatic response and was invited to the Main Programmes of Tampere Theatre Festival, Silence Festival and Pori Theatre Festival in 2017. Last performances were made as part of Flow Productions seasonal program in Oulu, Finland in 2019.