Review: Fröken, champagne!

AT THE TABLE WITH JACKALS

Lilla Teatern’s performance Miss, champagne! offers parallels to the ugly fish of the financial world.

The grip in Miss, champagne! is chose-free. The performance takes place in the foyer of Lilla Teatern, the set design consists of a table covered in a white linen tablecloth, two pairs of chairs, some cutlery, glasses and plates. And of course, two casually dressed gentlemen and a waitress.

Author Johan Bargum has created a clever little one-act play. In the play, we meet two bank robbers, Bertil (Sixten Lundberg) and Mårten (Joachim Wigelius). Ten years after their joint bank robbery, the men meet in a cabinet to celebrate, as there is an hour left until the whole affair expires.

Over the dinner table, the plot then unfolds. Step by step, new twists appear, all while the whisky, schnapps and red wine flow. The conversation between the old men, on the other hand, is regularly interrupted when a cunning waitress, played by Anitta Niemi, comes to the table. Of course, the interruptions always occur when the discussion is most exciting.

The play is partly bilingual, and there are generous communication mistakes that arise between languages. There are some wooden language jokes between Lundberg’s character and Niemi’s Finnish-speaking waitress, and they certainly elicit some laughter in the audience.

Lundberg and Wigelius are in harmony and the relationship between the characters feels dynamic. The two petty-bourgeois old men may not be archetypal bank robbers, rather associations are born with economic criminals. Bargum’s play also offers parallels to the financial crisis and the ugly fish that have been revealed in its light. The occasional bonus-milking business executive also pops up in my mind…

You can see Miss, champagne! as a critique of the market, where the bank robbery becomes a symbol of capitalist transactions. Bertil and Mårten are two jackals, and the message oozes cynicism. Bargum feels a little provocative in his handling of themes such as crime, punishment and reconciliation.

With its simple exterior, Miss, champagne! A really invigorating experience. It reminds you that good actors and a good text don’t need much more. It is possible to create sixty thrilling minutes in a foyer.