Review: Armfelt – sotilas ja kavaljeeri

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The Boys of the North and a Sparkling Europe

The subject of Frej Lindqvist’s play Armfelt – A Child of His Time is the life and adventures of the Finnish Kustaa Mauri Armfelt in the courts of Sweden and Russia, as well as the “enlightened autocracy”, revolution and counter-revolution in Europe. In addition to the title role played by Santeri Kinnunen, the performance has a whole host of significant and central roles.
The performance is first and foremost a theatrical play on many floors. The nobility of Europe are crazy about theatre, opera and ballet, the courts are preparing their own performances and they are eager to see which of the poets or composers is in vogue at any given time. Is it Goethe or Racine, Gluck, Mozart or the Italians.
In this sense, the Helsinki City Theatre’s performance is amusingly placed alongside the Group Theatre’s Amadeus – the same era that is realised in Ryhmäs by means of a small theatre with wigs in keno, appears at the City Theatre in the splendor made possible by the entire large machinery, but according to the human scale of a small stage.
Baroque and Rococo flourished in abundance in the costumes, wigs and masks designed by Sari Salmela, as well as in Ole Dikland’s set design, which is based on the idea of court theatre, red velvet and gold decorations. On trips to Italy, marble emerges from the walls. Carita Holmström, who conducted the magnificent composition and arrangement, and her court orchestra have a permanent place in the balcony that circles the stage.

In the play
Problems

Between the theatrical plays of the courts, European political events appear as equally theatrical activities – what ideas are in vogue at any given time, whether the aim is towards democracy or tyranny, whose star is rising and whose is falling.
However, director Lindqvist has not been sufficiently critical of the problems of author Lindqvist’s play, of which there are quite a few, and that is why the performance wants to make the viewer’s head spin in more ways than just in a positive sense.
Lindqvist has relied too much on some of his basic ideas, and repetition causes inflation. There is too much ballet, as well as the repeated acknowledgment of the closeness and significance of Armfelt and Gustav III in several intimate dialogues. A large part of the rest of the dialogue is a clumsy description of the situation and events for the viewer without anything actually happening between the people in the dialogue.
Despite these dialogues, especially at the beginning of the performance, you really get to dig into the basics of history to get a grip on who, what, where, with whom and why.

Acting
Conquer

Despite its problems, the performance captivates. The play rises to its best as it approaches its end, when it takes its theatrical play to the furthest – it discusses the living and the dead and feasts on historical irony. Skilful likenesses also appear on stage, such as Juha Jokela’s Alexander I and especially Eppu Salminen’s insane Napoleon Bonaparte, which draw out the essentials in an instant.
As Armfelt, Santeri Kinnunen is the beautiful man who is infatuated with by both women and men, but who is also carried away by the flow of his own time, without his own vision, attached his loyalty to his king and thus to the monarchy. He is lured into his troops by one and another, but surprisingly, Armfelt, who reacts to the moment, remains faithful to his first promise and, with it, to King Gustav III.
Oskari Katajisto is at his very best as Gustav III. In his role as a king wrapped in a veil of pretense and roles, he brings out more authenticity than ever in the roles of the “honest man”. Gustav III is an incredibly interesting accumulation of layers of transvestism, performance and roles. The interplay between Kinnunen and Katajisto is really enjoyable and does not fall into easy explanations or limitations.
Kristiina Elstelä is wonderful as the Empress of Russia, a former German bourgeois girl in a position where you don’t have to care a bit about what is appropriate or what else you think, but can fully concentrate on doing what you feel like doing and demand applause for it. Reidar Palmgren’s “little crow”, the heir to the throne, Gustav IV Adolf, is a total performance.
All the other actors and dancers also do a really good job, Matti Rasila as the upright, best dancer, i.e. the professional soldier Sprengtporten, Ursula Salo and Nora Schüller as the women in Armefelt’s life, Kari Mattila as the revolutionary Reuterholm, just to name a few.

Frej Lindqvist: Armfelt – A Child of His Time, translated into Finnish by Reita Lounatvuori, directed by Frej Lindqvist, choreography by Aku Ahjolinna, conductor Carita Holmström, set design by Ole Dikland, costumes by Sari Salmela. Premiere on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 22.2.2001.