DIVAN

Divan, a new play written for Klockriketeatern by one of the most prominent playwrights of our time Mikhail Durnenkov, will premiere in march 2025 at the Finnish Natioanl Theater in Helsinki, Omapohja-stage.

Divan is both a poetic text and a psychological relationship drama. Two characters — He and She — are simultaneously both victims and perpetrators. She is 15-20 years older than him; she is an actress, he is a journalist.

This performance is full of sudden twists and turns, psychological depth of the charachters, difficult ethical choices and non-obvious conclusions.

TICKETS

SUBTITLES for your own phone

- Download the free SUBTITLE MOBILE app from your app store (App store / Google Play).
- Ensure that your mobile device is fully charged and on silent mode.
- Open the app and follow the instructions.
- Enter code 77YC
- Select the subtitle language.
- Subtitles will start automatically when the performance begins.

Dan Henriksson: "Everything is true, when the memory becomes larger than life

"Mikhail Durnenkov's new text is a pressure cooker on a gas flame. Emotions, longing, betrayal, madness, poetry and glamor bubble up inside. 

Everything starts with music. The story unfolds like a matryoshka with layers of surprises and twists, new secrets.

The Diva DIVAN has many faces, exposed and hidden. Now as the pandemic has eased its grip: it's time to tear off the mask and let go. 

Who am I, who are you? Where are we  – is there a light, a way out of the labyrinth of memory?

On stage, two characters meet in battle with each other and themselves. He and She promise to tell the truth. About love and longing, about pain and glamour. About the archipelago and the loss, the passion and the obsession.

Therefore, it becomes comical for us who follow along - because everything is true, when the memory becomes larger than life. Retold through a cracked mirror, it becomes a little..., well, maybe just comical?"

- director Dan Henriksson

Michail Durnenkov: "Writing is like covering a painting with layers of varnish"
 

"My goal as playwright is to make a text that resurrects my long-forgotten enjoyment of a well-made (and acted) story in the theater.

I usually write plays easily and quickly and take a long, painful time to edit and polish them. 

I believe that the author should write a scene in the same rhythm as the actors will pronounce the text, then the lines come out most naturally.  But then the task is not to miss all the possibilities that need to be laid down for the future production. 

It's something like covering a painting with layers of varnish. The more layers the better. It is clear that not all the layers are used by the directors and not all of them are visible in the work, but as a playwright I am sure that they must be there."

– playwright Michail Durnenkov