Review: Kukkaistyttö

TOP THEATRE IN HELSINKI AGAIN

– George Bernard Shaw: The Flower Girl. Premiere on the small stage of the Helsinki City Theatre 28/1. Dir. Kari Heiskanen.


– A different kind of flower girl –

Kari Heiskanen’s handsome interpretation of George Bernard Shaw’s ever-wonderful Pygmalion classic, The Flower Girl, which has been one of the most performed works in Finland for almost 100 years.

For those G. B. Shaw lovers who are not familiar with the incomparable spoken word play The Flower Girl, the story may be familiar from either the musical My Fair Lady or the film based on it. The idea is that a well-known linguist and his friend bet that they can teach a fine woman who sells flowers on the street and twists slang into a fine woman who goes to social circles about the Duchess.

The name Pygmalion comes from the Roman writer Ovid, who was fond of ancient myths, in whose main work the sculptor of that name fell in love with the beautiful female figure he had made so much that he asked the goddess Venus to bring the statue back to life. The goddess complied with the request.

Heiskanen’s presentation combines the early 1900s with the technological know-how of our time. For example, video footage is used successfully and deliberately. It makes it possible to take the scenes to e.g. At the same time, changes can be made on the stage for a new scene without interrupting the performance.

Heiskanen’s Flower Girl puts Eliza Doolittle at the centre of the story, leaving Professor H. Higgins (played with reverence by Heiskanen himself) and his friend Colonel Pickering (the excellent Seppo Halttunen) a little more in the background than usual. This gives the excellent Anna-Maija Tuokko , who plays Eliza, more space to build her arch.

Heiskanen emphasizes different things than has usually been done. The text is sharpened and the female perspective appropriate to the time is emphasized, which is also reflected in the fine final scene.

Henry’s old but wise mother is played by the brilliant Ritva Valkama. Pertti Koivula, who plays Eliza’s father, has the same tight pull. Thanks also to the otherwise high-quality ensemble and especially to Matti Olavi Ranin and Antti Timonen, who also have time to work as videographers in between their roles.