Review: Valtakunnan häirikkö

Politicians and politics are difficult subjects for plays. You either have to know and remember, or put your own.

Helsinki City Theatre’s plays depicting Finland’s recent history have been a pleasure to watch before. However, this illustration by Vennamo is more amazing than the previous ones.

Everyone has their own memories and equally little information, so in the play written by Henri Kapulainen , the image of Veikko Vennamo is delicious: a funny and strong illustration of a man who walks his own paths.

As a young boy, Vennamo, a Karelian boy, decided to become, and did, become a lawyer and a ministry official. With the help of his witty mother and supportive wife, Veikko also became a minister and Kekkonen’s number one opponent. Vennamo held the reins tightly in his hands both in his party SMP and at home.

Vennamo’s description feels and looks very credible, but whether it is is the same because we do not have a common truth about these events either.

On stage, there are a series of events that make you laugh and have so much to do that you can satisfy your thirst for knowledge and your eternal fear of political games and clowns.

Pertti Sveholm in the lead role as Vennamo bends, skills and controls his work with incredible speed.

Like folk plays, the creators have come up with the idea of telling the numbers and names of the scenes, after all, the whole thing was basically about a political play meant for the people decades ago.

The phrases used by Vennamo were invented and found to be valid, and they went far in politics for decades.

Jari Pehkonen plays his character brilliantly as Eino Poutiainen and Johannes Virolainen .