Course of the events Jumalan teatteri performed at the
Oulu City Theatre on 17 January 1987. The four students from the Helsinki Theatre Academy had announced in the
Kaleva newspaper that their performance would be "a
manifesto of what theatre can now be and what it can not be" at a seminar at the Northern Theatre Days. The students performed in the nude and wielded
fire extinguishers, stolen from the
VR Group railway company. The group also set off
firecrackers in the hall. The public fled as the
automatic fire extinguishing system activated.
First responders arrived on the scene, and some individuals who had been in the audience were taken to the hospital for treatment of respiratory damage caused by the explosive gases released from the firecrackers.
Eeli Aalto, the grandfather of Finnish singer
Saara Aalto, was the only member of the audience who remained for the duration of the performance. The performers removed his sweater and attempted to remove his trousers. When he resisted, they left him in peace. Acting principal of the Theatre Academy thought the inspiration was the need for publicity of the "young theatre kids". The management of the academy as well as most of the teachers distanced themselves from the production, citing the students had done it on their private time. At the Parliament of Finland, there even was discussion about closing the Theatre Academy down. The right wing demanded tough action and the left wing warned about the dangers of a lynching mentality. In a question to Björkstrand,
Christian Democrat parliament member
Esko Almgren asked "What is the government going to do to immediately stop the tax-funded activity by Jouko Turkka, Jussi Parviainen and the Theatre Academy aimed at
anarchism and
terror, damaging the art of the
theatre?"
Uusi Suomi and
Iltalehti were the harshest in judging Jumalan teatteri. Discussion about Jumalan teatteri quieted down from late February to early March, but awakened fresh at the start of the trial in early September. Author has analysed the scandal in his 2016 essay collection
Tämä ei ole taidetta ("This is not art"). According to Mäkelä, the Jumalan teatteri case was handled amazingly fast and superficially. This was because of many reasons:
Yleisradio had not yet learned to handle provocation as news, the press had diminished and the
Internet had not yet changed the structure of publicity. According to Mäkelä, the performers of Jumalan teatteri had behaved seriously badly.
Jari Halonen's later view Jari Halonen told in 2016 in the
Perjantai show on
Yleisradio:
Jussi Parvianen's later view Jussi Parviainen told at a 2017 event by the Oulu Merikoskikerho club along with former cultural reporter that Jumalan teatteri had had nothing to do with theatre. It was an act of terror. Hatred and need for attention. There was no other explanation. According to chief criminal inspector who had led the investigation Turkka had acted cowardly in denying that he had publicly mentioned anything positive about Jumalan teatteri when he was interrogated by the police. According to Parviainen, the final destruction of the Theatre Academy started from Turkka's exact words. It gave birth to Pirun teatteri ("the theatre of the devil") that had destroyed the academy. According to Parviainen, it was unforgivable that many students at the Theatre Academy were left without education and training in their profession after Jumalan teatteri. Many dropped out of the academy. The academy continued its provocations in Helsinki. Students calling themselves Pirun teatteri caused a scene at the academy. Many students were afraid. Parviainen recalled that it was a terrible time and the academy had collapsed under itself. Parviainen affirmed that there was controversy about Turkka's "malaria theatre" and the media had turned against it. In this situation the students wanted to defend the academy. According to Parviainen, the Theatre Academy had a lot of good in it and its destruction was a loss to many gifted students, who also studied intensively and wanted to continue their studies completely separate from Jumalan teatteri and its provocative activity. ==Court process against Jumalan teatteri==