Review: Aurinko ja minä

NOTES OF THE GREAT DIVA

Let’s write the memoirs of an actress. The place is a seaside villa resting in the scorching sun.
The small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre is filled with soft, already faded and rounded sets. Everything is about the past, a little dusty but abundant time.
Actress Sarah Bernhardt’s life is already coming to an end, but the great diva does not let go of it. He looks at the sun and says in horror that he heard it burn itself out. So nothing is immortal – not even Sarah.
French-born Bernhardt was the most recognized actress of the 19th century, followed by the media of the time wherever she went. The actress’s life was colourful and she knew how to take advantage of the added value that came with publicity

In the play, written by John Murrell, Sarah and her secretary-servant Pitou go through a day and night trying to pile up crumbs for the second part of Sarah’s biography.

The two-actor performance directed by Milko Lehto is intense. Its expressive atmosphere is playful, even if the content and events are not.

Forssell’s masterful playfulness

Sarah Bernhardt is like walking in a theatre tunnel, where old roles come across. Small fragments of the past open up memory paths that allow the emotional spectrum to breathe.
Sarah is already living several times at a time and does not always control the flow of her thoughts. He waits for the storm to calm down, but he can’t get it.
Through the little dramas created with Pitou, the diva pumps the past to revive. “Nag, scold and whine!”, she begs to make Pitou sound like her mother, so that she can draw anecdotes for her memoirs.

Kyllikki Forssell’s play between the declamation of a diva, the craving of a woman in love and the shrinking old man is masterful. He takes his diva’s line as he pleases without breaking the rhythm.
Brave and proud, Forssell’s Sarah walks with her amputated leg and is still ready to play the role of a young woman. Plausibly, he falls into tears elsewhere for his long-lost Jacques.

Santeri Kinnunen Pitou breathes at the pace of his mistress, but he struggles a little. Through collisions, a warm comic is created.
The play squeezes out of small moments into juicy explosions and leaves a strong aftertaste.