Didi is a young neurodivergent person perceived as a woman, whose fragmented life has been overshadowed by foster placements, institutions, and loneliness. Didi searches for her place in the world—a world that shuts its ears, suppresses, and confines; a world full of incomprehensible rules and rigid norms that squeeze, force, and restrict.

In the second part of the trilogy, Didi encounters aguitarist, in whose company it feels strangely easy to be. Gradually, he becomes the center of Didi’s world. For the first time, Didi feels that her life has meaning.

The work moves fluidly between public spaces and the theatre stage. It does not wait for silence or a focused audience. It exists amid the noise, urgently striving to assert its right to exist.

Each performance is a fully composed mini-opera of its own. Together, the ten parts form an arc, but they can also be experienced individually. 

The work premiered in August 2025 at the Kontula shopping center as part of the Kontula Cultural Mall programme. In addition, parts of the work were performed in August 2025 on the streets and squares of central Helsinki, as well as in the foyer and on the stage of the Aleksanteri Theatre as part of Helsinki Contemporary Opera Festival.

Working group:

Composition & Libretto:  Heinz-Juhani Hofmann
Concept & Direction: Annika Fuhrmann, Karoliina Korhonen, Isa Kortekangas, Eetu Lipponen
Visual Design: Karoliina Korhonen
Video: Eetu Lipponen
Photos: Niko Sihvonen;  Tiago Mazza

Performers:
Annika Fuhrmann, Didi
Jukka Kääriäinen, Guitarist

"The more I reflected on it, the more natural it seemed to see the demonstration and the opera performance as indistinguishable, since both superficially used the same language. The opera singer’s microphone-enhanced, speech-like singing carried the same kind of declarative force as the demonstrator recounting personal experiences of child protection’s failings. Both performances also had the same goal: to stop passersby, to make them look and listen. [...]

I enjoyed every second of the performance. During the final aria, I found myself watching the reactions of passersby as much as the performers themselves. In particular, I found the aria’s relationship to the adjacent environmental event fascinating. At one point, I noticed a man behind a stall on his lunch break raise his eyebrows as the soprano, in the midst of an expressive, non-tonal passage, suddenly threw in a bluesy hook repeating the line “Ihmiskunta, lopu jo!” (“Humankind, end it already!”)

That raised eyebrow was, in that moment, as expressive an element of the performance as the singer’s voice."

Sakari Ylivuori, Finnish Music Quartaly (9.2025)

Scene Synopses

1/10 Anxiety

 Didi searches for words for a feeling she cannot name.

2/10 Background Story

Didi recalls the time she hurt her mother.

3/10 Cowbell

 Didi talks about the Guitarist’s girlfriend, Cowbell.

4/10 Taking Into Care 1

 Didi recounts the early stages of being placed into care, as well as the reasons that led to it.

5/10 The Guitarist

 Didi interprets a heart emoji sent by the Guitarist as a sign of something deeper.

6/10 Taking Into Care 2

 Didi reflects on the time when she was in foster care / under state care.

7/10 Didi Left on Read

 The Guitarist does not respond to Didi’s messages. Uncertainty pulls Didi into an uncontrollable monologue.

8/10 Aria

 Didi performs a song she composed herself.

9/10 Betrayal and Rage

 Didi discovers who is to blame for the Guitarist’s silence.

10/10 Epilogue

 Didi is alone. The days drift past, each resembling the next. Her thoughts grope aimlessly without direction.

Content warning: Some scenes contain references to violence and themes related to mental health. The performances are intended for adult audiences