Greta Production: An Evening on the Riviera with Olavi Paavolainen

An Evening on the Riviera with Olavi Paavolainen weaves together poetry, music, dramatic scenes, and cultural history. Narrator Anna Kortelainen guides the audience through a story centred on Paavolainen's (Joel Mäkinen) letters and poems from the French Riviera.

The dramatic scenes unfold between a fictional pension owner, Madame Notorjeva (Reetta Ristimäki), and Paavolainen. The music draws from early twentieth-century art music and period hits - composers including Poulenc, Debussy, Fauré, and Maurice Chevalier. Joel Mäkinen has also composed music for Paavolainen's poems.

The production is rooted in a historical journey: the young dandy Paavolainen travelled to Nice in 1927, sent friends alternately boastful and candid letters, and sought intense experiences of his era. From this journey came his essay collection Nykyaikaa etsimässä.

Creative team: script, set design, and narrator Anna Kortelainen; costumes Riitta Röpelinen; visualisation Elle Mikkola; visualisation realisation Aniisia Kronidova; image processing Elle Mikkola and Veera Paija; seamstress Sarita Vepsäläinen.

Duration: approximately 1 hour 10 minutes, no interval. gretatuotanto.fi/iltarivieralla