Missä kuljimme kerran

Introduction

In the summer of 2026, the Suomenlinna Open-Air Theatre will stage Riikka Oksanen’s dramatization and direction of Kjell Westö’s Finlandia Prize winning novel Missä kuljimme kerran.

Helsinki in the early 20th century. The city is growing, changing shape, and tensions between social classes are escalating. In the restless working-class neighborhoods, people gather to demand justice, while on the other side of the Pitkäsilta bridge, they raise their glasses to the promises of a new era. Soon, society is torn in two, and the streets of the newborn nation’s capital become the stage for a far-reaching tragedy.

Missä kuljimme kerran takes the audience on a journey through the lives of individuals, families, and social classes from the days of the general strike through the civil war and into the 1930s. It reveals why we as a nation are where we are today and asks what will remain of us when moral boundaries disappear. How quickly revenge and bitterness can engulf an entire generation.

At the same time, it is a tribute to the people who once walked the streets of Helsinki, the same streets we walk today. People who once loved, hoped, suffered, tried to forget, and were forgotten. 

Riikka Oksanen‘s new adaptation for Ryhmäteatteri of the seminal novel published 20 years ago is an invitation to an eternal summer party that continues even after the music has ceased.

The leading roles are played by Santtu Karvonen (Eccu), Satu Tuuli Karhu (Lucie), Miiko Toiviainen (Cedi), Ville Hilska (Allu), and Juha Kukkonen (Enok). Robert Kock and Annika Hartikka shine in several other roles.

The music is composed and written by Antti Autio, who charmingly combines sensitivity and strength in his music.