Review: Armfelt – sotilas ja kavaljeeri
Two actors on the edge of Europe
Life is theatre. War, domination, loving, everything is theatre. Except when everything is dance. Europe at the end of the 18th century is a great theatre where power struggles are fought with dancing. You have to be able to act in the grip of power.
This is what Swedish playwright and director Frej Lindqvist claims in his play Armfelt, which dances through Sweden-Finland in recent decades.
Fiction is based on facts. “How many people today know who G. M. Armfelt was?” asks the director in the script. Quite a few, indeed: one Korean color photo page of the script should have been sacrificed to facts about Gustavian Sweden-Finland.
Lindqvist takes the viewer through history, Swedish court plots and wars. On that ride, they sometimes feel like they are being interrogated in a history lesson for which the teacher has not properly given them.
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Kustaa Mauri Armfelt (1757-1814) was a Finnish-born officer and ladies’ man who was sometimes popular or unpopular with Swedish and Russian rulers, but always close to power.
His old friend of the Savo Brigade, Yrjö Maunu Sprengtporten , became not only the Governor-General of Finland at the beginning of Russia’s rule, but also a former friend: politics separated him.
Gustav III (1746-1792) was a reform-minded king famous for his theatre hobbies. But because he aspired to autocracy, albeit enlightened, he was murdered in a masquerade. His son Gustav IV Adolf (1778-1837), on the other hand, was untalented, especially as a warrior, so the officers took the crown and Gustav went into exile for the rest of his life.
Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796) was a stout empress and founded academies, fought wars around the world and socialized with the handsome men of Europe.
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The same people were seen at the City Theatre 25 years ago, in Jussi Kylätasku’s play Ringport’s Line. Directed by Jouko Turkka , it was a bitter and bloody analysis of the use of power, in which the people suffered when the lords divided lands and people. It was not a success.
In Armfelt , you don’t have to look at the sufferings of the common people, and it becomes more popular: the people are six dancers who stretch out their legs on ballet poles, following the orders of various rulers or aspirants to power.
Armfelt is a comedy with romantic colours. It is a spectacular epoch, a feast for the eyes, created by the set designer and costume designer. The two-storey set is a choreographed, marbled theatre, sometimes in St. Petersburg, Stockholm or somewhere in Italy. Carita Holmström and the wind musicians produce pleasant ear candy.
The comedy section includes Armfelt’s female adventures: Santeri Kinnunen , who slips on the floors of the court and later skates smoothly, is not a pushy tail jerk, but rather amusingly bothered by the women’s excessive interest.
Theatrically, Kristiina Elstelä’s round and agile Katariina dances in woolen socks are hilarious: Elstelä is charming and excellent as a fierce empress who is not bounced around by men, except perhaps handsome men.
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Courtiers have been stylized into grotesques and even farces. However, the play tries to find something serious to say about the relationship between the two actors: the king teaches his reluctant officer the theatre of life. Their destinies are intertwined, in life and death, so that even some lines are common over time.
Oskari Katajisto’s King is a make-up fool, at his darkest he resembles a ghost animal – and at the same time a razor-sharp, ironic analyst. The fanaticism of Katajisto’s role is appealing, because it is not satisfied with farce, but also reveals the vulnerability of Gustav’s personality and the uncertainty of his sexual identity.
Reidar Palmgrenin Gustav IV Adolf is by nature a ridiculously insecure aspiring ruler whose growing self-confidence does not match his lacking abilities.
Ursula Salo is the all-suffering, but ironically tenacious Mrs. Armfelt, Nora Schüller is an equally unyielding, sensual mistress.
Matti Rasila’s stiff Sprengtporten is a diligent dancer and also makes his officers train. Choreographer Aku Ahjolinna makes the entire ensemble dance briskly.
Armfelt would be better as a play if it were less of a chronicle, a passing by of many people, and gave more space to the dramas of its main characters. At its best, however, Lindqvist’s dialogue is intelligent and works well, especially in the roles of Katajisto and Kinnunen.
Europe has always been divided in strategic games, in which Finland has only played the role of winning the game. There has never been a shortage of players, says Armfelt.