Review: Myyrä

LAUGHTER AT STLIN AND FINLANDIZATION

Helsinki City Theatre continues to deal with recent history with an entertaining touch by tackling Jari Tervo’s bestselling novel Mole (2004), which happily mixes fiction and fact. The topic is, nothing less and no more than Kekkonen himself and the time of Finlandization. Milko Lehto, who directed On the Way to Porkkala and Beljakov’s Winter in the Same House, is responsible for the slightly more fast-paced and looser direction.

Myyrä is perfectly suited to the stage with its irritating characters and fast-paced plot twists. There is plenty of dramatised perspective in the blockbuster, which varies from one time level to another and extends from 1918 to the time it was written.

Sami Keski-Vähälä’s dramatisation, which is smooth and functional on the surface, condenses the events and cuts out some characters and ramblings. The dramatisation focuses on the end of Kekkonen’s reign, at the turn of the 1970s and 80s, and ends with the death of the president.

The young detective of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, the black sheep of the communist family, Jura Karhu (the excellent Rauno Ahonen), is tasked with finding out whether the president himself is the biggest mole of all, a spy for a foreign power. Jura becomes entangled in an espionage story and a murder mystery, which is coloured with flashbacks and memories. The main focus is on the character of Kekkonen, the colourful stages of the Karhu family are left aside.

However, there is plenty of intense action and fast-paced twists and turns throughout the entire three-hour performance. In its genre cultivating macabre and raunchy humour, the performance follows in Tervo’s footsteps, but deeper and more insightful levels tend to drown in the speed.

The controls are bursting with sharp and clever means and details. The atmosphere escalates, for example, at the Independence Day reception and during Kekkonen’s visit to Germany with unrestrained sign language interpretation.

Sticking to the conventional

Despite the smooth pace, there is something stiff and stiff in the performance, as in Finlandized Finland. Humour and sharpness are bolted to familiar explanations and laughter. Myyrä remains a prisoner of both Tervo’s novel, which is conventional in all its wit, and the spirit of consensus.

Carnivalization applies to the Soviet leaders, but does not really extend to the homeland, at least not to Kekkonen himself. It is familiar and safe to laugh at Stalin (Pertti Koivula), who is portrayed as a perverted monster, and Brezhnev , who is connected to a vodka drip bottle. Presenting Kekkonen and Stalin as counterparts or even companions in fate in the whirlwind of a common waltz remains a mere thought.

The infallible Kekkonen remains a demigod and Finland had no other option but to lie down in front of the great and powerful. In addition to always being right and one step ahead of everyone, Kekkonen is also an old, tired and lonely statesman who is haunted by nightmares and visions.

Kekkonen, who is of different ages, is played by Hannes Suominen, Matti Olavi Ranin and Antti Litja, who already appeared as the older Kekkonen in Belyakov’s winter, highlighting Kekkonen’s weaknesses and human aspects without underlining unnecessarily.

The actors in Mole are fast-paced and comical throughout. The 14-member Ensemble spins almost a hundred characters on stage with precision and skill.

Markus Tsokkinen’s excellent and inventive set design, which plays with Soviet kitsch and clichés, skilfully creates frequently changing locations from Red Square to Mäntyniemi. The Sputnik Ball Grill collides with Miska the bear and the Kremlin’s red star shines in the night. Elina Kolehmainen’s costumes continue the same tearing vibe, andPetteri Pietiäinen’s videos keep the viewer up to date with time and place.

Mole plays and offers liberating laughter about the trauma of Finlandization, but does not ask or question anything.

You may be allowed to leave the stands with your head spinning, but with a safe mind, in the spirit of consensus.