Review: Viivi ja Wagner Teneriffalla

In Pasila, pigs are being pigged again. Sinne!

Viivi and Wagner’s first arrival on the Pasila stage of the Helsinki City Theatre
In the spring of 2006, it was a blockbuster. Now the comic book heroes have returned to the stage as if they were their home, and the fame has spread so much that the viewer does not have to buy a pig in a poke.

What’s in Molding

There is a lot of talk about interdisciplinarity and obscurity, but both theatre and film carry it out either purposefully or instinctively. Sometimes it is persuading or forcing the art form in question into a new mold, sometimes it is just making a story out of a story.

Juba Tuomola has boldly and creatively transferred her cartoon characters to the stage lights, and if there had been disbelief or resistance at some point, director Tiina Puumalainen’s taming approach would have tamed it. On the other hand, he has good plasticine, namely Risto Kaskilahti, who is nothing but Wagner from hooves to tail, and Sari Siikander, whose Viivi has sensuality and feminine energy in the right proportion. Both believe in their own character, but in addition to that, at least as much in their opponent, which makes the narrative feel good.

Afford to sharpen

What about the viewer. Does he believe in this quirky couple who go to Tenerife with their family days? The person sitting in front of me replied before anyone had even had time to ask, “wonderfully crazy”. A strongly positive expression, I would argue. You see, when all the old southern travel and couch potato clichés are put in a food processor at high volume and then served well whipped, with a deliberately over-the-top expression, you will sweat when you giggle.

The production has leapt to the absurd in a free style, and there is no knocking on the nose, as the old saying goes. Of course, someone can suffer, but isn’t that a familiar term when talking about pigs?

The tempo was good at the premiere, the choreographic parts and music supported the genre, and even the masks were completely head-on. My nightmare with its digital sky fantasies turned out to be an update, and delicious stand-up comedy arose from grandma’s memoirs, a heavy, if sometimes glamorous, work on the Reeperbahn. One would have hoped for a more anarchic approach from the ski sketches, while the other national sport of the Finns, drunkenness, progressed in an orthodox progressive manner.

Fylli räiskyy

Compared to the first version of V & W, the boat now has even more irony, which slightly breaks down the description of the relationship at the center. However, the solution feels right in the stage narrative, which also gives the viewer other models and encourages them to take a stand. Sex is exciting, but love is a tricky thing, and “in spite of everything” liking is a fairly common option.

Kaskilahti and Siikander are not satisfied with acknowledging their tasks with routine, but carry them through with great mutual appreciation, which, as expected, tones the teamwork.

Tiina Pirhonen is a personal comedy who amuses with her few but accurate facial expressions and coolly replicating as Viivi’s mother. Matti Rasila’s grandfather, made alone with buttons, has its moments of glamour, not to mention the grandmother, whose desire to party is vigorously maintained by Pia Runnakko . The entire cast is carefully constructed both externally and interpretively, but by far the most impressive and audible is Aunt Fylli by Sanna Saarijärvi . Joyful and colourful like a firework rocket.