Description
A stage work based on Varlam Šalamov's short story collection of the same name Helsinki 98 "Tales of Cold and Hunger – Helsinki 98 group's newest stage work does not shout, teach or purify" Demokraatti Kolyma Tales is one of the most significant works of GULAG literature of the 20th century. Its author, Varlam Šalamov, spent nearly two decades in Soviet forced labor camps in Northeastern Siberia, in Kolyma, where the cold drops to –50 degrees. From these experiences was born dense, stark and merciless prose, a work that does not explain or moralize. It testifies. "Hiroshima, Auschwitz and Kolyma are phenomena of the same scale." Helsinki 98 brings to the stage a selection of short stories from Šalamov's magnum opus, depicting life in the Kolyma camps: cold, hunger, work amidst crushed stone – and moments where humanity disappears or unexpectedly flickers forth. "What remains of a person when humanity has been taken away?" The performance does not aim at historical reconstruction, but at linguistic precision and stage density. How does Šalamov's tangible prose become theater? As the Soviet Union collapsed at the turn of the 1980s–1990s, previously banned writers were eagerly read in Russia, including Varlam Šalamov and Aleksandr Solženitsyn. The latter became a world-famous name, while Šalamov, called the "Dostoevsky of the 20th century," has remained in the shadows. Varlam Šalamov (1907–1982) was a principled and contradictory figure. Millions of people were sentenced to prison camps on arbitrary grounds, but he was sentenced under the harshest political article, on charges of "Trotskyist counter-revolutionary activity." In 1929, as a student, he distributed Lenin's so-called testament, which criticized Stalin. Today he could be called a dissident. Šalamov spent a total of about 17 years in the archipelago of prison camps, mainly in the extreme conditions of Kolyma. In the camp, he never agreed to leadership positions, as that would have meant using violence against other prisoners. "No, I will not become a foreman, I would rather die." His survival from imprisonment was a matter of chance and perseverance: in his last years of labor camps, he was transferred to work as a nurse, which saved his life. After his release in 1953, Šalamov began writing poems and his magnum opus, Kolyma Tales. He devoted his life to writing this work, but in the Soviet Union the book was not published during his lifetime. Abroad, however, the book appeared (protecting the author) as an unauthorized edition already in the 1970s, and in 1981 the French PEN Club awarded Šalamov the Freedom Prize. In 1982, Šalamov died poor, forgotten and nearly deaf and blind in a psychiatric hospital. In the Soviet Union, Kolyma Tales was published in 1989. In Finnish, the work appeared in 1991 in Ulla-Liisa Heino's skillful translation. "Precision and conciseness are the first virtues of prose." – Varlam Šalamov Helsinki 98 is a theater group founded in 2023 that examines the role and meaning of art in the reality that has formed after 24.2.2022. Over two and a half years, seven productions have been seen by a total of 8,870 spectators. Now Helsinki 98 brings this literary testimony to the violence of the Soviet system to the stage – as the Finnish and possibly European premiere at the Helsinki 98 stage in Vuosaaren Tilajakamo. WORKING GROUP: Author: Varlam Šalamov Translator: Ulla-Liisa Heino Director, producer: Director Assistant director: Martti-Tapio Kuuskoski Set design, lights, videos, poster: Pavel Semchenko Sound design: Samuli Kivelä Costume designer, stage manager: Anis Kronidova Actors: Sami Lanki, Juha-Pekka Mikkola and Maksim Pavlenko Production and marketing: HELSINKI 98 Duration: approx. 1 h 40 min (no intermission) Venue: Helsinki 98 stage, Vuosaari, Vuosaaren Tilajakamo The performance has been supported by the Arts and Culture Division and the Helsinki City Library and Culture Board. The director wishes to remain anonymous because of the Russian war. The performance is recommended for over 15-year-olds. Note! We cannot let latecomers into the performance space. Arrival instructions for Vuosaaren Tilajakamo (Vuosaarentie 7): By metro: Vuosaari stop, walk from the metro's Columbus exit to the left, walk towards the main entrance of Vuotalo, opposite which is the former Vuosaari high school, now Vuosaaren tilajakamo. The walk from the metro to Tilajakamo takes 3 minutes. By car: There is a parking lot at Vuosaarentie 7.