Actress Laura Rämä plays a gig as Santa Claus, but her Santa is anything but traditional: he might fall asleep in the middle of handing out presents and sit on the Christmas people's laps himself.
What if the kind of Santa who would suddenly throw himself down for a nap in the middle of the floor? After waking up, he would refuse to listen to the householder's songs and take care of himself Antti Tuiskun pieces The beast is unleashed.
And soon he would stop lifting the little ones on his knee and would instead put his own behind on the thigh of one of the recipients of the gift, sit on it.
That kind of guy is an actor from Helsinki Laura Rämän performed by Pukki.
Pukki sat on the lap in the Olohuoneinsa performance of Kotiteatteri troupe.
Never not you can guess in advance what will happen when Pukki comes, and even today, Sunday, Pukki steps into half a dozen homes. The concert calendar is full.
The buck does everything “the other way around”, says Laura Rämä at her home in Itä-Pasila.
It has even happened that Pukki has come in the middle of summer, with an empty Ikea bag, and asked to fill it with gifts, for Pukki himself. If there is no volunteer in the audience to sit on, Pukki draws a volunteer.
Laura Rämä as Pukki.
And when the graybeard has been escorted through the door towards the next address, he has refused to leave.
Where is this from? your character?
Rämä says that he originally played his own Christmas Santa in the Kotiteatteri group, which tours with its performances in private homes throughout Finland, regardless of the season.
“When Pukki comes and knocks on the door, it's of course a huge surprise, because Kotiteatteri's performance has been done quite often in the summer.”
In these performances, Puki's bravado included a pole dance in the middle of the living room, because the other group members also grabbed the pole. I liked Puk, too.
Laura Rämän Pukki also performs as a member of the Kotiteatteri group. Then he pole dances.
Pukki left Kotiteatteri for his own spin-off career in 2019 and also started serving at the traditional time on Christmas Eve.
At first, the customers were close friends, but as the reputation spread, there was demand from outside as well. During the Corona period, Rämä came up with the idea of serving via a remote connection to Oulu, for example, and it still works this way today, if the customer wants.
There have been customers from one end to the other: from single people to nuclear families and from Westend to Itäkeskus. Pukki has also visited companies' parties. Orders come throughout the year.
“There's no point in taking the beard to storage, because it needs a bit of space,” says Rämä.
At Christmas 2020, Laura Rämä went to breastfeed her baby between her Pukki gigs.
Laura Rämä has a master's degree in both theater art and philosophy and is an experienced actor on the stage of many theaters. He is also a clown by profession, in permanent employment at Sairaalaklovnit ry.
What fascinates Puki's character?
“The opportunity to surprise, to turn a stereotype into another”, Rämä answers at home at the kitchen table.
“I felt like breaking the character of the goat so that we do it the other way around.”
During the pandemic restrictions, Pukki started serving via remote connection.
When Pukki throws himself down to sleep on the customer's floor or sits on his lap, a distortion is created in the social situation, which Rämä describes as a “small revolution”.
Then the formulaic, even dreamy moment of handing out gifts becomes electrified into a real encounter that forces those present to think about their own relationship with Santa Claus and also to be creative among their loved ones in a special situation.
A change is born, something new.
“That's what I'm able to influence by making art, when I choose a Santa who is surprising and wonderful and who looks for the limit of the strange enough.”
For Rämä's service there is an advance call with the subscriber. During that time, Rämä feels how strange it would be appropriate to be at a gig there. Pukki will bring gifts at Christmas, if that's what you want.
Rämä only makes the final decisions after entering the customer's hall and sensing what kind of atmosphere and crowd await him.
You have to keep an eye out, he says. Bucks, for example, have a habit of farting when they sit on someone's lap.
Once, during such a “fake fart party”, Rämä noticed a dull look from among those present. He was stared at by a person who Rämä interpreted as the head of the family in question.
It became clear. The limit of strange enough had been met. Pukki looked the gazer back deep in the eyes and said:
“Sorry, but it made it easier!”
Pukki performed at Kiasma in 2019. Then he was put to sleep.
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