Talk Show, 2025 (25 min)
Ph: Helmi Korhonen
“Now, whenever I hear the word lokakuu, I don’t picture autumn leaves or long, dark nights. I think of my dad, dancing like there’s no tomorrow to Ricky Martin at his birthday party.”
I Have a Thing with Words is a solo performance that borrows the structure of a talk show and flips it on its head. Starting from the Finnish word for October—lokakuu—the piece looks into the strange and surprising ways we learn and remember new languages.
Through a mix of personal stories, memory tricks, and playful game-like elements, the show explores how language imprints itself on us—emotionally, physically, and sometimes unexpectedly. It’s a celebration of how words can become containers for a whole world.
Commissioned by the Finnish Institute of New York.
Premiered in Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, in April 2025.