Review: Manillaköysi
APPEAL AGAINST THE FOLLY OF WAR
The City Theatre’s Manilla Rope is an impressive performance. It’s funny and entertaining, but also a deep plea against the madness of war. There are no heroes in this play, but there is love and empathy.
Lauri Sipari has dramatised the play mainly on the basis of Veijo Meri’s novel Manillaköysi and the texts about its writing. The frame story includes many stories, including fragments from the author’s own life more than 50 years ago. The anxiety of an anti-hero returning from the front, the madness of war and, in spite of everything, an enormous zest for life are present.
Manilla Rope, directed by Petteri Sallinen, is a carnivalesque work that moves freely in time and space. It corresponds to the definition Tuomas Anhava gave to the novel 50 years ago: a gruesomely grotesque, humorous cluster of war stories.
The play has different layers side by side, nested and overlapped. Sometimes it feels like the viewers are being teased: does anyone notice this?<BR
The author pops from behind the scenes into the limelight from time to time, usually with his friend, his editor Tuomas Anhava . Meri wants to portray his soldiers in his own way, without patriotic pathos and heroism. Among others, the Unknown Soldier of the Castle is the target of cautious ridicule.
Manila Rope is manned by fine actors. The male cast is adorned by Sanna Majuri, who transforms into many roles, as well as Joose Keppilä’s wife Elviira and a young soldier. Somehow, a Finnish female soldier seems like a completely natural choice in this interpretation, even if it would have been an impossible idea at the time of writing the novel.
Sami Hokkanen, Pekka Huotari, Teemu Mustonen, Jyrki Nousiainen, Jari Pehkonen, Matti Rasila, Aarne Sulkanen and Hannes Suominen all do a great job on stage. Singing and dancing are fluent and storytelling is smooth, seamlessly transitioning from serious to light. Jari Pehkonen in particular makes an impression when he transforms into several roles. Pekka Huotari is impressive as Joose Keppilä, even though the hero of the novel has to move from the main role to a supporting role on stage.
Hannu Lindholm’s set design is simple, streamlined and gives room for stories. Veijo Meri has written a fine essay for the play’s script. For that reason alone, the Manilla Rope is worth a visit.
Veijo Meri’s Manilla Rope has been translated into 22 languages, and it has been the subject of a film, dozens of theses and even a doctoral dissertation. The book continues to interest both readers and researchers from one generation to the next. Adapting a work to the stage is a cultural act, and it is a pity that it is only happening now, 50 years after the work was completed.