Kilpikonna kuningatar – Lindon Shimizu

Kilpikonnakuningatar is a dreamlike solo performance that follows the journey of a carnavalistic-burlesque persona—playful, decadent, and sensually extravagant—who undergoes a slow, poetic metamorphosis into a turtle or turtle-like creature. Performed by Lindon Shimizu, the work explores the deep currents of migration, vulnerability, and adaptation through a lens that is both humorous and poignant.

The character at the center of the piece is both sovereign and exposed: a queen whose glittering exterior gradually sheds to reveal layers of slowness, softness, and ancestral memory. The transformation into a turtle is not literal but symbolic—a way of embodying states of protection, resistance, and the wisdom of moving with, rather than against, time. The turtle becomes a vessel through which stories of displacement, survival, and care are carried across borders, species, and sensibilities.

The structure of Kilpikonnakuningatar is intentionally open and fluid. Rather than being tied to a single narrative or theatrical frame, the work is designed to adapt to multiple performative contexts—galleries, public spaces, black boxes, or outdoor environments. This malleability reflects its core thematic concern: how bodies, especially queer, racialized, and migrant bodies, continually reshape themselves to belong, to endure, and to dream.

Rooted in physical performance, drag, somatic research, and diasporic memory, Kilpikonnakuningatar invites audiences into an intimate, surreal world where time stretches, identities shimmer, and transformation is always possible. It is a performance that celebrates the joy of becoming otherwise—and the quiet power of carrying your home on your back.

The solo piece “Kilpikonna Kuningatar” (2024) evolved from the earlier solo processes “Hatch” and “unpacking”, presented at Zodiak’s Z-lab (2021) and Näytämö-teatteri (Joensuu, 2022).

Kilpikonnakuningatar (05.12.2024)
"standing in a Tiramisu cake curly legs are scissoring here in Tohmäjärvi Kermameri surfing on a line of thin wave. It is being part of the street, underwear, a small queen before the gate / We are turtles moving through the dusk, forces that stay the night somewhere / someone meets something in this cave; asks whether this is safe / whether the lion has rest in its mouth; whether there's good vibe here
i'm lacking history, time, I'm not just from a forest but from the game and the sea
true third space misfitting disturb makes me visible for my fluid gaze / here in a land of antiheroes asking why and hot for a moment, humble sameness; hard shield warm and soft inner flesh hard and hot / this is the time of the Turtle Queen worms' mouths are open to the moon lips are eating / fingers are cuddling the soft"

Performing, Dramaturgy, Direction: Lindon Shimizu
Text: Sini Silveri