But there's a catch...

Kiersten Leslie fondly remembers her visit to Helsinki in 2016 when she met several Finn-Brit types as well as some members of the cast and crew of Strange Season. She particularly enjoyed the delightful rambles in the wilds of Nuuksio.

In Strange Season, Kiersten has the role of Melinda, who accepts a romantic invitation from an old flame, Art, to join him for a getaway to sunny Spain. On arrival, Art whisks her off to a reception at the Madrid climate talks, which are grinding to a halt due to international infighting and a plot by the fossil fuel industry's venture capitalists to scuttle the whole thing.

Art seems eager to marry her at last and dump his rich wife. There are two catches in the way of their living happily ever after on the ranch Art wants to acquire in California. The first is that Melinda has gotten herself accidentally pregnant and is worried Art will change his mind if he notices her blissful state before telling the wife she is being dumped.

The other catch is that Art has joined the plot of the venture capitalists to scuttle the climate talks which will allow him to do a billion dollar coal deal to finance their getaway plan to California. Melinda's dilemma is compounded when she meets Louise, whose family lives near a toxic oilfield. Then there is the old geophysicist, Peter, who shows her pictures of Greenland in meltdown. These encounters are a real downer for her and her dreams of a romantic escape with Art.

Then there are all those bills unpaid and the baby on the way. She decides to flee the scene and collect her thoughts. Only to find herself at a bullfight. Art enters suddenly, with a bull in hot pursuit....

Melinda Text: Kiersten Leslie
Photo (bullfight): Giovanni Calia on Unsplash

Kiersten hails from New Zealand, but is currently working at a theater near Birmingham in the UK. At university she majored in sciences, but then moved on to theater and acting. The call is irresistable when it comes, as every true thespian knows.