Review: Elokuu
Helsinki City Theatre’s stunning family drama touches mothers and daughters
AUGUST IS THE TIME OF THE HARVEST OF SECRETS
August is the time to harvest secrets
Director Kari Heiskanen has just picked up a play written by American Tracy Letts and adapted it to the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre.
Ritva Valkama does one of her best roles as a diabolical matriarch. The play covers the August tray, from which there is enough to taste well into the spring.
The scene in August has deteriorated: the dreary house and plastic-covered windows hint at the delusional reality in which the residents of the house live.
The earth and its barrenness are indicated by a cactus sticking out on the side of the stage. It can also be thought of as describing a stinging atmosphere and prickly language.
It’s August in Oklahoma.
The play centers on married couple Beverly and Violet Weston and their three daughters.
The events begin when the father mysteriously disappears on a fishing trip, having previously hired a young Cheyenne Indian named Johnna as a housekeeper.
The disappearance attracts Violet’s sister Mattie Fae and the family’s daughters with their husbands and children like a magnet.
When the ingredients are together, it’s time for the concoction.
Under Violet’s command, the family’s life lies and self-deceptions are scooped out of the relationship soup that has been brewing for years.
The theme of the play is also a middle-aged woman and her “market value”.
Tracy Letts’ people are symptomatic children, insecure or indifferent parents, and abusive adults.
The language is rough in places, but this is how it has always been spoken in this family.
Inflamed
Sisterhood
Anyone who has seen the play can hardly claim that it does not scratch in any way.
The story, which tells the story of family ties that have gone into a dead end, has so much to grasp that the viewer must be made of Teflon if the events remain untouched.
The play has a lot of recognizable problems of a modern family, and sometimes it splashes a lot.
Mothers are strong, they see everything. Sick and abused as a child, Violet has become concentrated to vinegar and has not missed a single secret.
Nor about his own sister’s life.
Grown-up daughters drag along a painful relationship with their pill-saturated mother, who still rants about dressing, pokes fun at male choices, commands them to stand up straight, complains about the lack of meetings, and in the end, she’s just afraid of being left alone.
Of course, the mother gets back from her daughters, women’s meanness is refined into poisonous targeted attacks.
It is said that the coexistence of siblings brings a sense of security: the knowledge that someone is moving in the same direction somewhere, as a child of the same history.
Violet’s daughters have not internalized this feeling. Their relationship has become inflamed over time due to unresolved issues and distance.
In the play, childhood has disappeared from everyone too early, leaving its inconsolable marks.
Verbal
Shooter
The main roles in the play are played by women. The men are bystanders, but they are nevertheless important catalysts that accelerate events at the junctions.
Texts like August are gems for actors.
The engine of the events is Ritva Valkama’s juicy portrayal of a woman of will
Valkama electrifies the stage like a generator, her body language and stopping mimicry captivating. The role is carefully thought out and the strikes are always on point.
Leena Uotila’s Mattie Fae is also hilariously impressive as Ivy’s daughter, Aino Seppo as Karen and Riitta Havukainen as Barbara make believable and strong interpretations as different sisters.
All the characters in the play are important, and the end result is the sum of great roles.
At its juiciest, August is a verbal shooter that follows like a ping-pong match.
The actors’ eye for the game does not disappoint, and the rhythm lasts for three hours without limping.
A good play mercies the viewer, while sharp humour gives room for laughter.
Events
Continuum
Kari Heiskanen’s direction mainly operates with the possibilities provided by the revolving platform. A continuum of events is created on the stage as the stage turns, changes the scene and starts a new scene.
People wandering and waiting in place occasionally create an uneasy background.
Hannu Lindholm’s set design is as fragmented as the human mind.
The Oklahoma Plain comes alive in the emptiness of the stage.
The dresses designed by Sari Salmela tell a lot about the people who wear them.
Taina Tervo’s hairstyles and Salla Siven’s disguise give the finishing touches to the gallery of characters.
A great story, the charismatic Ritva Valkama and good performances throughout guarantee that August’s harvest will be fruitful.