Director, performer, writer
Alma Rajala (1978) is an original and multifaceted director and performer in puppet theatre. Constantly seeking new horizons, she combines puppet theatre to other forms of art. She has created her own theatrical language characterised by ambiguous images with a strong atmosphere and in which philosophy meets material and human body. In one of her most recent projects, she created the idea and the concept for the huge artistic production The Book of Rooms which took place in Turku in August 2021. In this show, a group of 150 artists was assembled to create an immersive, experiential, and spatial performance based on Saila Susiluoto’s poetical work with the same title. In 2021, The Book of Rooms was awarded the state prize in performing arts by the Arts Promotion Center Finland, and Rajala herself received the prize of the The Finnish Critics’ Association. Her other significant works include Extinction Paradise – Contemporary Puppet Theatre About the Fertility of Childlessness, with the scenario by Reetta Niemelä (Mekaaninen joutsen – Elävä Ensemble 2021) and Rapunzel – the Diva of the Tower, based on Pipsa Lonka’s text (Tehdas Theatre 2016). One of the foremost contemporary puppet theatre artists in Finland, Alma Rajala also contributes to the development of the field by taking an active part in the puppet theatre network Aura of Puppets which has gained great recognition for this form of art in Finland. Since January 2023, she has been working on a five-year grant from the Arts Promotion Center Finland.
