FRACTURES is a musical theatre production, where text, music and movement are equal elements. It tells the life stories of two women. They both dream of an independent work and career, they both get married and have children. The problem of self-realization leads to illness and total suffocation of one’s own needs for one of the women when the other’s destiny is a total renunciation of marriage and children. In the play these two destinies are linked and woven together. Music, composed by Riku Niemi, is a unique combination of folk tunes and contemporary classical music. Song lyrics are mainly the poems of Aino Kallas and its strong emotional colour deepens the thematic narration.
 
Fractures is a story of the cultural history of hysteria and the universal power of creativity, carried out by reviewing side by side the life stories of two women, Ellan Edelfelt and Aino Kallas. The play examines their battle for independence and self-realization. It tells about their growth from youth to middle age, about married life and children, the focus being on their ability to survive the challenges they face in life and their ability to defend their true self. The settings are Helsinki, a city penetrated with nationalistic ideology, Paris and its hysteria spectacles and Estonia on the verge of independence.
 
Alongside with text material the manuscript contains voice and sound patterns and frames of movement. The ensemble has its own freedom to put them into practice. Improvisation and the ensemble’s own interpretations are allowed. Both text and music leave room to own individual voice and movement material. The milieus can be changed and the characters can be localized. In every country there certainly can be found counterparts for Aino Kallas and Ellan de la Chapelle. Translation of the manuscript is subject to a separate agreement.
                                                                                                 Watch The Fractures video.