Review: Elokuu

FAMILY COMMUNITY’S WOLF MOMENT

The play August blows up a family’s life lie.

The family is a unit that has fascinated playwrights throughout the ages. Maybe because all human emotions are present in the family. As a member of the family, a person is at their most naked and therefore also the most vulnerable.
Helsinki City Theatre’s August is a tragic family drama. The play by American Tracy Letts , completed the year before last, has been praised in the United States, and it has already been elevated to the status of a classic.
Even at the beginning of the play, the Weston family is not a dream family. His wife Violet suffers from cancer and takes pills, and his wife Beverly is a learned alcoholic. He disappears and is found dead.
The funeral will be attended by the family’s three daughters and their partner, as well as Violet’s sister and her family. The play’s loudest bangs explode in the second half, as family member after family member begins to unravel evil secrets.

However, August is not a hotbed of anxiety, as the text has plenty of black humour and Kari Heiskanen’s fine direction breathes airily.
Ritva Valkaman Violet is the play’s amazing central character, although Violet is not quite the matron you would expect.

Lauri Sipari’s translation is in some places unacceptably reminiscent of the original language, English.