“You Won’t Understand Anything Anyway”

– A Musical About Young People and Those Adults

A mother picks up her teenager from a New Year’s party. The teenager is slightly drunk, but there’s nothing unpleasant happening. They drive in silence on a dark highway. It’s about 3 a.m. J. Karjalainen’s ‘Grain of Rice’ starts playing on the radio: ‘You’re a stranger here, an intruder from far away, yeah.’ The mother and son sing it together. The highway lights flicker by.

Research shows that the most common things about young people that bother adults are:

1. Young people are always in the way,
2. young people are too loud,
3. young people are aimless and lazy, and
4. snot.

The musical documentary theater performance ‘You Won’t Understand Anything Anyway’ tries to increase understanding between young people and adults. The script is composed of documentary material following the lives of young people and parents in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Material includes interviews, writing letters, making music, and filming. The performance also includes interviews with experts working with young people. Since the performance is based on documentary material, the stories of young people and adults are touching and poignant, they make you laugh until you cry and allow for a special way to relate.

A young person might commonly ask an adult: ‘When we meet, do you listen, or more importantly, do you hear me?’

What kinds of emotions move within us as adults and young people? What decisions do we make? How do we admit mistakes? How do we apologize? Parenting a teenager often feels like a failure. There’s a lot of shame involved. Could young people explain their situation in more detail? And what about adults? Would it then be easier to understand why everything is so complicated? Why is youth such a dark medieval period of life?

Cast: Paavo Kerosuo, Ella Lymi, Nicklas Pohjola, Hanna Vahtikari, and Senna Vodzogbe

Team:

Director and Script – Jonna Wikström

Video Design and Filming – Terjo Aaltonen

Music Workshops and Arrangement – Marzi Nyman

Composition – Marzi Nyman, Anna Kemppi, Aleksanteri Levijoki, and Aida Wikström

Song Lyrics – Sade Alanko, Kaiku Euren, Titta Halinen, Tiina Karvinen, Anna Kemppi, Aleksanteri Levijoki, Oliver Pirttilä, Aida Wikström, and Jonna Wikström

Beat in the Rap Song – Oliver Pirttilä and Oskari Kyntölä

Sound Design – Markus Bonsdorff

Set and Costume Design – Paula Koivunen

Lighting Design – Max Wikström

Choreography – Soile Ojala

Photography – Terjo Aaltonen

Graphic Design – Joona Aalto