Review: Hemmafesten

SUPERFICIAL BUT FUN AT LILLAN

The Home Party, Lilla Teatern 2.9. Cast: Jonna Järnefelt, Cecilia Paul, Pekka Strang, Marc Svahnström. Director: Arn-Henrik Blomqvist, translation: Gunilla Hemming, set design and costumes: Kaisa Rasila, sound: Janne Brelih.

What could be a more fun start to the autumn than Lilla Teatern’s Nordic premiere of the French author Gilles Dyrek’s play Hemmafesten? Comedy can be embarrassing and boring at worst, but at Lilla Teatern, the audience had a good laugh from start to finish. In addition, the Finnish-Swedish audience probably felt at home in set designer Kaisa Rasila’s cozy IKEA-inspired living room. The party could actually have been at any of our homes.

The plot and the story are by no means particularly profound. What makes it so fun and homely is Gunilla Hemming’s sharp translation with direct references to the Finnish-Swedish capital space. Clever points with a twist on the tail made the audience tear out violent bursts of laughter and in between recognizable giggles. Already the beginning of the play, with Strömsö’s fixer Jim Björni on the TV screen in the living room, bodes well.

In short, the plot of the play is that Jonte (Pekka Strang) has met his old student friend Christoffer (Marc Svahnström) and invited him to his home with an avec. Jonte’s future wife Ann-Louise (Cecilia Paul) prepares a nice evening with good food and drink. Unfortunately, Christoffer and his girlfriend Patricia (Jonna Järnefelt) are having a bad day. Patricia’s strange behavior and refusal to communicate with the host couple leads to a misunderstanding. Jonte and Ann-Louise get the idea that she is a foreigner and doesn’t speak Swedish very well. One thing leads to another and Patricia decides to play a fugitive from the mysterious land of “Kulukstan”. One can only conclude that rarely have you heard someone twist their mouth muscles as hilariously as Jonna Järnefelt! Her interpretation of the foreign language, a kind of mix between Russian and Polish, makes the most humorless smile smile. Pekka Strang, Marc Svahnström and not least Cecilia Paul also shine on stage. Strang and Paul’s interpretation of the super-in love couple who do and even give everything for Patricia to thrive is phenomenal. In the end, Patricia manages to cheat most of their possessions out of them for humanitarian reasons, and one can only wonder if the people of “Kulukstan” really need a cuckoo clock or a broken coffee maker? As the evening progresses, Christoffer and Patricia’s snorts soften, while Jonte and Ann-Louise, who are so in love, face the first big argument of their relationship. In other words, a surprising turnaround in relationships.

“Hemmafesten” was written a few years ago and became a success in Paris with over 500 gigs. In Arn-Henrik Blomqvist’s fast-paced and snappy direction, it has at least as much chance of becoming an audience success for Lilla Teatern. In fact, therapy of the best kind in these gloomy times. And of course I agree with Gunilla Hemming: the worst thing that could happen to a resident of Kauniainen would be to be deported to Vantaa!