Review: Mies joka kieltäytyi käyttämästä hissiä

MAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ELEVATOR AS A MIRROR OF LIFE


Bengt Ahlfors tells the story of his play
There are three reasons for the completion of Hissvägrare (or the same in a slightly more complicated Finnish The Man Who Refused to Use the Elevator): the problems of the elderly,
Lasse Pöysti and his studio
building elevator. The monologue written for Pöysti, which the veteran star himself has translated into Finnish and also directed, is most charming
An hour and a half drama session.

Pöysti captivates us
from the beginning and keeps you in control
masterfully until the last moments of the story. Ever since she was a child, she has been talking to the elevator in her home
There is something extraordinarily endearing in the story of an accustomed man.

The elevator has been important to the man
also in many other ways than just as a conversation partner.
It has transported him to the top floor of the house (when he has), acted as a social
as a stage for establishing contacts (or as a means of refusing them).
laboratory), etc.

The common denominator with the National Play, on the other hand, is that the birthday
is an important issue here as well. The protagonist’s birthday is the same as that of megastar Grace Kelly, the late Princess of Monaco, and before that, the
and especially the adored blonde beauty of Hitchcock’s films. I sat warmly and almost as if self-indulgent
stories, even the most detached ones in the story
The subplots come to life and become essential parts of the delicate story.

I have very rarely left a monologue performance with a heart as light and in a good mood as now, although there is of course plenty in the story
also dark tones and sadness.