Review: Juoruja

It’s okay to laugh

Nothing is as embarrassing as watching a farce that doesn’t make you laugh. At the Helsinki City Theatre, the play Gossip does not have this problem. You can laugh at it, sometimes you have to burst into a loud snort.

It’s an extreme farce written by Neil Simon , so over-the-top that a bad director would surely ruin it. However, Neil Hardwick is a master of timing. The twists and turns are lightning fast and they are handled by veteran actors like clockwork. There is courtesy, misunderstandings, lies, jealousy – and the ridiculousness of people trying to save their skins.

Janne Renvall has dressed the actors wonderfully. Sari Siikander’s giant gestures and Pertti Sveholm’s small but significant eyebrow raises fit well into the same play. And no one can be more delicious than the explanatory virtuoso Jari Pehkonen in the role of Lenny.