Review: Paavo 1,5
AN ENTERTAINING IMPLEMENTATION FROM A RELAXED TEXT
Let’s assume that Patrik 1.5, written by the Swedish Mikael Druker, had seen the light of day sometime in the mid-1980s and had been freshly translated into Finnish and brought to some Finnish stage. It would have been guaranteed to be a slapstick mess.
“Gay comedy is overwhelming in the theatre!” “A male couple adopted a punk boy in a controversial play!” the tabloid sales announcers would have shouted from every corner. The public sections would have been filled with comments on “this is what we need to support with taxpayers’ money”.
However, Druker did not write his play until the middle of the next decade as a kind of statement on the debate on the adoption rights of gay couples in his home country at the time.
At that time, Finnish law did not even include the registration of same-sex partnerships. The “debate” on the right to adopt only began in this decade.
Now everything is different. Homosexuality has become commonplace in Finland as well – and at the same time it has also become more entertaining. Throws about quota homosexuals in TV entertainment are starting to be real stuff. On the surface, Finland is a tolerant country in relation to gender minorities.
That is why the Finnish version of Druker’s play , Paavo 1.5 , does not raise eyebrows even at a meeting of the board of directors of Alma Media or the Oulu diocesan meeting, to throw assumptions at random.
It’s actually a shame. It’s always good for theatre that there’s a bit of war going on around it. Paavo 1.5 has already had several productions in Finnish theatres, and I haven’t heard even a little fuss – not even about the Finnish premiere at the Rovaniemi City Theatre four years ago.
Comma error turns into chaos
Perhaps the main reason why Paavo 1.5 does not arouse sharp reactions among the people lies in the text of the play itself. Druker’s play is essentially a gentle comedy, at times downright gentle.
The starting point of the play would provide the basis for even more brisk tearing. Martti and Jari, life partners registered in the union, have been able to participate in an experiment that tests the prerequisites for adoption of gay couples, and so they are preparing to welcome one-and-a-half-year-old Paavo as a member of their family. It’s a big surprise when a 15-year-old homophobic juvenile criminal and punk rash death metal fan comes to their home. The comma error devil in the social welfare office.
Of course, chaos ensues when a male couple, who are a bit opposite to each other, bump into Paavo’s attitudes from different angles and try to arrange practical matters somehow so that the trio could at least live under the same roof
But how can it be that Paavo is not bad to the core, just such a superficial villain. Through small everyday things, mutual understanding begins to emerge and the play flows towards… I’ll leave it to guess.
Tight bridle
Despite all its conventionality and predictability, Paavo 1.5 is also sympathetic to watch as a production by the Helsinki City Theatre. It was directed by Tommi Auvinen, who wrote the same text for the Tampere Theatre already in the spring of last year.
Therefore, it is no wonder that as he knows the text thoroughly, he has also been able to jump into the role of Martti as Eero Saarinen’s replacement relatively painlessly, as he injured himself in an accident just before the premiere, but will step into the role later.
Auvinen’s direction is sharp and actor-oriented, which is what he himself is. There are quite a few operational climaxes, but the play still doesn’t just become a drop of lines or a theatrical war of positions. The flow of dialogue and, above all, its delicious confrontation created by generational and orientation boundaries create action in itself.
I don’t know how the characterizations of the characters are written in Druker’s original text, but the most commendable thing about Studio Pasila’s version is that gay men are outwardly depicted as ordinary guys, not caricatures drawn through familiar mannerisms.
No maidenhood, no pretty-bellied speech, not even any “swaying” pastel-coloured wefts.
In the same vein, Jaakko Saariluoma , who plays Jari, and Auvinen, as actors, also keep the bridle tight with their roles, and it gives the comedy a nuance of credibility. There are more exaggerations in Paavo, excellently played by Petja Lähde , from whom an endearing little boy emerges from under all the icing on the cake.