A new drama brings into the spotlight a woman who has grown up in the shadows of others and only on the threshold of old age asks herself – who was I really?
Sculptor Essi Renvall needs money and has accepted a commission – she must create a portrait of Sylvi Kekkonen. However, the work does not progress, because Essi cannot get a grasp of Sylvi. To Essi, the woman appears like a statue already in her lifetime – like a person petrified behind a shell. Essi makes Sylvi ask herself who she really is.
What follows is a fast-paced journey into the whirlwinds of the sharp-tongued woman’s youth. A charismatic romance sweeps Sylvi onto the runways of love and politics, but soon the talented writer realizes she has been left in her husband’s shadow. The position as the country’s First Lady does not exactly leave room for personal dreams. When both her husband and her body fail her, Sylvi falls from great heights, and there seems to be no way out from behind the social façade. What happens when one is left alone behind the scenes of high society life? What is found when, only at the threshold of old age, one asks oneself who I really was?
The work premiered at Pori Theatre in 2023, directed by Minna Nurmelin and has later been performed at Mikkeli Theatre in 2025, directed by Hanna Ryti.
Ensimmäinen Nainen opening night will be at the Turku City Theatre on 2.9.2026.
Turku City Theatre, 2026