Review: Mies joka kieltäytyi käyttämästä hissiä

A PERSON WHO REFUSES TO USE THE ELEVATOR TAKES HIS AUDIENCE

The little grandpa stands on the edge of the stage and talks for an hour and a half. The whole audience listens enchanted. Grandpa looks like an ordinary old man with his brown polo shirt, and the set is just a table and chair, half-open curtains.
When the grandfather is Lasse Pöysti and the text is written by the director-director-veteran of the Swedish-language theatre, Bengt Ahlfors of 30 plays, nothing else is needed. The title of the monologue, The Man Who Refused to Use the Elevator , arouses curiosity.

THE OLD MAN has lived all his life in the same apartment on the top floor of an apartment building in Töölö. The house’s elevator has carried him up and down since he was a boy. Except for the times when it would have been too embarrassing in the elevator or when she became a person who refused to take the elevator.
Even as a boy, the man was lonely, even though he had schoolmates and colleagues. There was a mother and a library, there was a dog named Kafka and, of course, Grace Kelly. At times, prickly humour wraps sad facts in laughter, recognising a small person’s struggle towards a meaningful life. You have to find someone to talk to, even in the elevator, if there are no others.

‘TORTUROUS’ IS a WORD that is repeated often. It sums up the protection of privacy and the shame of revealing embarrassing things. From laughing at embarrassing things, the man suddenly jumps into a completely different emotional world.

Bengt Ahlfors’ text, originally written in Swedish, is genuine speech. A few reflections on the problems of performing a monologue that interrupt the story fit the nature of the performance. The story contains all the brutality of life – bullying and ridicule, childhood memories that make cat lovers shudder, fear, the inevitability of the end.
The monologue becomes like a bedtime story thanks to its ending. The story turns out exactly as the old man has believed: things matter. Sometimes the motives for our decisions can seem amusing, even pathetic. The end result can still bring exactly what you want.

FOR THE AUDIENCE, a monologue brings a good mood. The demands of the audience were perhaps noticed by the overly enthusiastic laughter. However, the warm final applause conveyed the feeling of happiness brought by the fine text and the masterful performance, which will live on in your mind for a long time.