Review: Kuilu
The abyss takes us to the extremes of emotions
Ice hockey mogul Frank Moberg and the scandal related to the 1980s Hotel Hesperia nightclub come to mind in Pasi Lampela’s new drama The Abyss. Especially since the Sammy Davis concert is also related to the topic.
The Abyss, set in the living environment of upstarts, premiered at the Helsinki City Theatre’s Studio Elsa. The instructor is Lampela himself.
The Abyss is familiar to Lampela, who often deals with topics in which something very brutal is scratched out from under the surface. A realistic, strongly dialogue-oriented drama that breathes Ibsen and Albee.
The performance is about tensions within the family, hidden history and unspoken truths. The family consists of mother Helena and her children Miia and Jani, and her husband Antti. The starting point is the return of a newly graduated daughter and the waves it has raised.
As a director, Lampela is precise. The characters are clear-cut and on their way to something. The emotional range of the performance is wide, from sadness to anger, relief and love. Lampela takes the actors to the limit, even towards debauchery and the taste of blood, but without breaking the sense of reality.
Markus Tsokkinen, who designed the set and costumes, has framed the clouds of this family with silver borders. You see, the modern living room interior of the stage is surrounded by a ring of silver high heels. And not in vain, because despite its painful themes, the performance leaves a glimmer of light in the future.
Introspection of upstarts
The chasm starts when the family’s daughter Miia (Anna-Maija Tuokko) returns home from Strasbourg. He is a newly graduated lawyer, of which his mother Helena (Satu Silvo) is particularly proud.
The mother’s dominant figure is drawn right from the beginning of the performance. She has tried to plan her daughter’s life to her liking, and her husband Antti (Oskari Katajisto) fits the script.
Jani (Sami Hokkanen), in his own way, has survived his role as a boy who will become nothing. His mother didn’t invest in him, but she also didn’t notice that his son could think. The family is smooth on the surface, but the inside is bubbling.
Helena and Antti are genuine upstarts. People who have risen from sweat and filth, whose self-esteem is based on mammon and their self-esteem is based on the success of the second generation. One way or another.
As an ethical issue, this is important. Can a daughter be proud of herself and her education when she finds out how the money for them has been obtained? Is it possible to succeed in Western culture, what do we export to Asia as cultural exports?
Women’s play
Satu Silvo interprets the role of the infuriating, selfish, motherly Helena in a very emotional way. She is a calculating wife who does not want to hug her husband, who has been seasoned by a long flight, but sends him to the shower. She is a self-sacrificing mother who has tried her daughter’s best, and whose sacrifice is something else than she can expect. Helena, played by Silvo, is a horrible socialite bitch, although she is already an adult.
You could say that The Abyss is a mother’s play. He plans, organizes and directs the lives of other people.
The childlike faithfulness of the independent-looking daughter is excellently interpreted by Anna-Maija Tuokko, who is probably better known for her musical roles than for her spoken word plays. Even though Miia is a lawyer, she is still uncertain, but there is a reason for that. As interpreted by Tuokko, the change from a young woman experiencing emptiness to a conscious direction is powerful. But sometimes a little too naïve for a person who is used to getting by.
In this play, male roles support female roles. So is Oskari Katajisto’s Antti, who focuses on showing off and making people laugh, and Sami Hokkanen’s Jani, who, despite his tragic nature and because of it, is a medieval jester figure.