Review: Iloisiin kuulemiin ja näkemiin
From the radio, with love
and with a little devilishness
Oh, the times when the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), and radio in particular, still carried the public service task of education set for it with honor.
Oh, the horror of the times when the Finnish Broadcasting Company was under strict parliamentary control and even the journalist vacancies were distributed in an appropriate proportion among those who carried different party membership books.
Ouch!! yes aargh!! From the stage when radio stations were made into formats, there was a stream of broadcasts and playlists took over.
In a nutshell, these are the content elements that carry the Helsinki City Theatre’s music-scented comedy of the times to Happy Hears and Goodbyes. It transports viewers in a stream of nostalgia from the great year of Armi and our Olympics in 1952 to the present day.
Outi Popp, the mother figure of rock-driven radio culture, and Jukka Relander, a historian and also a radio and TV personality, have written a chronicle of the history of radio based on facts, but with a twinkle in the eye. The main characters of the play, the guys from the editorial staff of the radio’s Päiväpeili, have role models, but they are still just themselves and fiction.
As a reflection of the passage of time and the cultural ideals of different eras, the play uses a wonderfully executed musical chain that leads from the Kärki-Helismaa pair through Kaj Chydenius to Eppu Normaali and Nylon Beat.
Radio history
Short syllabus
Seen from the point of view of radio reporting, this historical fast-forward goes through various milestones of the recent past in a slightly shabby but entertaining way. Political crises and culmination points, various cultural phenomena and the different eras of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) with their repos, normalisations and more recent media turmoil are discussed in short scenes. Historical analysis is not attempted, and it would not be very natural in this genre, but the superficiality of radio culture as the 2000s approaches – presumably from Outi Poppi, who has followed things closely – is treated in a rather ironic and edgy way. That’s a good thing.
In any case, you can see and hear from the scriptwriters’ text that the radio has been dear at least in the past.
The people in the mirror of the stage are drawn in rather rough strokes
Caricatures: there is an editorial manager who bows in all directions and especially to the management of the house, there is a blue-and-white thinking journalist, there is a washable Social Democratic journalist, there is a feminist journalist in a flower scarf at Reporadio, and there is an eternal summer journalist who can be called a girl.
Above all this is the figure of the chief announcer Tyyne Kälpäkä, who takes care of the basic values of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, as well as good use of language and speech.
Havukainen in a bravura role
Mikko Kivinen has directed the performance into a controlled whole, in which the exhibitions, parts and songs alternate as a logical continuum.
Fortunately, the play is written in such a way that the actual characters don’t burst into song every now and then, but completely different actors are responsible for that side.
The actors do their job with equal typing, but not excessively. Except for Riitta Havukainen, who does it with dizzying skill and fully internalizing the sound universe of Kaisupuuskajoki and even raising it to power. Tyyne Kälpäkä’s announcements are a celebration of articulation, and in many languages!
The performers of the musical numbers are indeed all actors, so there are no schlager stars as attractions. Why would it be, when Ursula Salo, Sanna Majuri, Merja Larivaara, Pertti Koivula, Sami Hokkanen and Petja Lähde each in turn shine as soloists. Particularly memorable are Koivula’s flirtatious Silver Moon, Hokkanen’s bold performances Hetki lyö and Motorway is hot, and the female trio’s Metro Girls pastiche Silent Village Road. Also impressive is the Ultra Bra classic I protect you from everything, which was performed by the whole choir in the final.
On the music side, you could get a great show on your own.